Dreams Sometimes Come True
by Trixfan
Summary: Three abandoned children, a DNA test and our favourite duo.  Puzzle pieces begin falling into place as TLG investigate, but where is Mulder, and what evidence is he attempting to gather to make Scully's wishes come true. Set post Triangle.
1. Chapter 1

I know this has been done like a million time before, but this is my take on the story. Yes, anyone who knows my X-files stories won't have to ask, this starts Canon but quickly turns to an Alternative Universe.

If anyone should want to purchase Mulder, Scully or any other characters from Chris Carter, 1013 productions or Fox Studios, please feel welcome to donate them to me as a present. I'll share, I promise.

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><p>Waiting impatiently for the three hundred and one locks to open, Scully tapped her foot on the pavement outside The Lone Gunman's door. The sound of her footfall cushioned by the four inches of snow, the movement didn't compensate for the below freezing conditions at two in the morning. Drawing her trench closer in a vague attempt keep body heat, Scully found the situation ironic.<p>

Still feeling frustrating by the late night call at the same instant she'd finally fallen asleep, Scully almost decided not to pick the instrument off its cradle. Expecting Mulder's dulcet tone on the other end of her home line, Dana let her displeasure illuminate her tone with a single word "Scully". Since losing the X-files for the second time, he'd continued his work behind Kersh back, graciously allowing _**HER**_ to take the heat for _**HIM**_.

'Not this time Mulder,' Scully promised silently, only to hear Byers calm tone. The message simple, get here now and then an impertinent dial tone. The call left Dana Scully to wonder what trouble Mulder had managed to fall into this time. They'd returned from sunny Florida yesterday and the Queen Anne fiasco. 'If you really loved me Mulder,' Scully informed her absent partner with a wistful fancy, 'you'd stop chasing after monsters with a butterfly net.'

Finally the door cracked open to a short, unruly dressed man. 'Agent Scully,' he greeted, none of his usual innuendo displayed in either his voice or action. Scully began to seriously worry for Mulder's safety, especially when she couldn't see him behind any of the mountains of electronic monitoring equipment.

'Where's Mulder,' Scully demanded, sashaying her way over to Byers and Langley with Frohike following like a lost and lonely puppy. Byers' demeanour didn't change. John Byers assessed the woman before him with cool blue eyes, ensuring his expression and body language never gave away his inner thoughts.

Langley searched the room to avoid Scully's direct gaze and his panicked expression. Crossing her small arms over her chest, Scully waited while two of the three men exchanged worried looks. Wondering who'd crack first, she finally asked, 'just tell me what he's done this time.' An irritated sigh, combined with a frown gave the diminutive woman an air not to be messed with.

Byers, elected leader by the other two, responded in his usual warm voice. His monotone prepared Scully for the shock ahead. _Not that Mulder hasn't put me through just about everything possible_, a sudden shiver of apprehension caught Scully unaware. Neither Langley nor Frohike had the courage to face the red head agent in this mood. This concerned Scully more than she let on.

'Three children were abandoned at Little Sisters of the Poor Orphanage Thursday last week,' Byers informed, 'three day old twin boys and their eleven month old sister.'

Scully's heart went out to the children as she wondered what tragedy forced their parents to surrender them. Unable to see any situation leading her to give up her offspring, Dana grieved as much for the infants as herself. Now, when the choice became impossible, she finally realised how much she wanted to be a mother.

_I always thought I had plenty of time,_ the melancholy thought ran through Scully mind,_ that I could make the decision when the opportunity presented itself. _ In discovering Emily, Scully and Mulder proved she'd never get the chance. The syndicate wouldn't allow her access to her stolen DNA, let alone her biological offspring. They'd left her barren, unable to conceive a child even if she wanted. Scully's career choice and single status ensure she never be eligible to adopt.

'Mulder's gone to get them,' Langley stated, a humourless smile on his face.

'Why,' her train of thought broken, Scully forced her mind to the conversation.

While Langley sat on a stool before his computer, Byers and Frohike stood either side. They looked like the three stooges, lined up with identical expressions on their faces. Curley and Mo glanced at Byers, letting him field Scully furious glare. Inside she shook, realising the enormity of Mulder's dash to secure the safety of these orphaned children.

'These children were abandoned without identification in the early hours of the morning,' Byers explained. 'In the middle of winter, they might've frozen but The Sisters attend vespers at four thirty every morning.'

'They took the kiddies to the local hospital,' Frohike chimed in. 'The police contacted the local Children's service office. The Sisters where given temporary custody until the parents could be located.'

'When the police couldn't find any leads, the doctors took blood for DNA typing,' Byers once again took up the story. 'They managed to find the parents on the national database.'

'But the biological mother's never given birth, at least not in any hospital in the US,' Langley added, a nervous smile creeping onto his lips. Turning his attention to the computer screen, he pointed out several lines of text, 'so we decided to dig.'

'We discovered three children, matching the description, conceived using an IVF clinic here in D.C.,' Byers continued. 'The birth mother used donor ova, supplied by the clinic to achieve two term pregnancies, a girl eleven months ago and twin boys last week, using her husband's sperm. At least that's the official version on the paperwork filed in triplicate with the National Assisted Fertility Council. Both met an untimely demise Wednesday evening, leaving behind three children and no one to care for them.'

'Which clinic,' Scully asked, her legs shook with anxiety. As the name rolled off Byers lips, Dana found her knees unable to support her weight. Falling into the stool behind her, the colour drained from her face. 'What are you trying to tell me,' she demanded of the three men before her.

'Biologically, those three children belong to you and Mulder,' Byers enounced each word slowly and carefully. 'Mulder left to gather evidence, giving both of you a chance to gain temporary custody of your children.'

'He left this for you,' Langley handed Scully an envelope with her name scrawled across it in Mulder's untidy handwriting.

Tearing the flap open, a diamond engagement ring fell out. Scully had seen it before, on Mrs Mulder's finger before she'd succumb to a massive stroke (OK, I know, not canon but it serves a purpose) just over a year ago. Searching for anything else, Dana took out a slither of paper.

_It's the only way. Everyone thinks we've been in a clandestine relationship for years. Ten AM, Judge Harold Macomb's office, central D.C. M._

Nodding her agreement, Scully picked up the ring and slipped it onto her left hand. She knew sleep would evade her tonight. Making a mental list of what needed to be achieved in the next six hours, she took in a deep breath.

'I'm going to need your help,' she told the three men still staring at the glittering stone with gob smacked expressions.

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><p>Did you enjoy? Want me to continue?<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

'Mulder,' he answered his cell in a distracted tone just as the first rays of sunlight began chasing away the night sky.

In his hand, sheaths of paper held the history of three, small, helpless children. Proof, positive proof, gave Mulder the opportunity to fulfil his partner's dreams of becoming a Mother. _Possibly mime too_, but he didn't allow himself to dwell on the thought too often, even now with the dream close enough to touch.

'I have no idea how you live in this apartment you call home,' Scully stated acidly, standing before a door she'd never noticed before. Less than one minute ago she taken her life in her hands and dared to open it. What fell out, she could only speculate. The cloud of dust still floating in the air made visibility almost impossible. 'I can only guess at the last time you opened your bedroom door.'

Smiling, despite the fatigue he felt, Mulder answered in a teasing tone, 'I don't need a bed, Scully.' A crash in the background alerted him to Dana's current location and the reason why. The smile became a grin creping across his weary features. Trying to make his warning subtle, he continued, 'surely you know that by now. You dropped my suits into the drycleaners before our trip to Florida last week.'

'While the rest of you unmentionables are sitting on top of my machine, folded neatly, ready for you to collect,' Scully fired back. Their exceptional bond working over the airwaves, ensuring Dana played long without lying. 'If you hadn't been injured once again, Mulder, I'd make you do your own laundry.'

'Come on Scully,' he moaned, pulling his hurt puppy dog expression. The soft sigh ensured she'd "seen" it as yet another thump reached Mulder's ears. He knew exactly what she'd uncovered.

'How do you access your bathroom,' horrified, Scully managed to push several boxes of offensive reading material to one side and locate the ablutions. They look completely untouched since the day he'd moved in, barring the inches of accumulated dust. 'After seven years together, you'd think I might've realised your apartment contained another two rooms,' she complained.

'We're never home long enough to need either the bedroom or bathroom at my place,' Mulder baited. Mentally, he counted until the penny dropped.

'No,' Scully agreed, sounding a little less peeved, 'you're always invading my home.' He could hear her thoughts over the static on the line and see her biting her bottom lip with indecision. They both realised how important this conversation might become. 'I think it's time you officially gave up your place, Mulder, and made a permanent move to Georgetown.'

'Let's wait, Scully,' Mulder sounded wistful, 'we might need to find somewhere bigger in the near future, and then we'll both have to give up our apartments.'

They'd have to give up a whole lot more than apartments, Mulder realised. Their work on the X-file couldn't continue, at least not together, not as partners. One of them would need to keep more social hours for the sake of the three innocent lives they hoped to mould as a family. Under the extreme circumstances, Scully would be granted maternity leave and he'd get a new, if temporary partner. Given what he'd uncovered, Mulder wondered if his determination to find the truth would survive the translation to family man. That dream, now so close, he wouldn't allow crushed at the hands of un-named men for reason's he still didn't understand or comprehend.

'I doubt you'll find a house by the lake in D.C.,' Scully teased, reminded of the time they sat on a rock, metres from the shore and discussed where they wanted to live one day.

'I've still got my parents Quonochontaug real estate for a weekend getaways,' he teased, while a list of the property he technically owned crossed Mulder mind. Mrs Mulder's Connecticut home, two houses on the Vineyard, including the one Samantha had been abducted from. His father keeping it astounded Mulder.

Both parents held reasonably large life insurance policies with Mulder as the sole beneficiary. The funds had been safely invested for the future, along with the trusts Teena Mulder set up for her children from her parents' estate. He'd never called on his parent's wealth, except to pay for his Oxford education, it felt like blood money after his sister's disappearance.

Recalling the time he'd inferred he couldn't pay the rent made Mulder shiver. Pride caused the outburst. Nothing could be further from the truth. He'd been afraid Scully would abandon his life work without him to watch her every move. She'd compared the investigation to an episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle. After years working together, Mulder should have known his partner better.

Turning serious, Mulder stated, 'I've found what I came for Scully. I'll be home in time for our meeting.'

'The Clark at the circuit court in Alexandria arrives at nine,' Scully stated sweetly, 'I need your signature on the Marriage Licence before it can be processed.'

'In a hurry,' Mulder teased. Of all the states surrounding Washington D.C., Virginia's laws allowed a couple to marry within minutes of obtaining a legal licence. Waiting periods and blood test weren't necessary.

'Considering you asked me to marry you almost a year ago,' a sly smile crept over Scully's lips as her voice turned saccharine. Remembering a phone conversation while she holidayed in Maine, she said, 'I believe I've been very patient.'

Speechless, Mulder ended the call. The tone of his partner's voice alerted him to the real state of her mind. Dr Dana Katherine Scully held in her fury. He could only guess at the reasons, but using his mother's ring and the method of his proposal formed a good part of her anger. He wondered how she'd take the confession about his donation to the IVF clinic. Scully's wrath now would be nothing compared to her finding out about his previous marriage, his first wife's death and the reason Katherine Mulder asked her husband to save his sperm for future use.

'I should have told you, Scully,' Mulder mourned the oversight. The subject had never come up, retrospection proving how important that discussion might have been.

Finally gaining the courage to turn the key and start the ignition, Mulder pulled his car from the curb. Beside him sat the remainder of Dana's DNA in a container "borrowed" from the clinic. Packed in dry ice to ensure the survival of the biological material, her ova had been fertilised with his ten year old donation. Eleven blastocysts remained, their future children, frozen in time. Records retrieved from the clinic confirmed this to be the only chance she'd ever have to carry her own flesh and blood.

'They destroyed the rest,' Mulder muttered under his breath. He couldn't help feeling highly amused at the content of his current thoughts. 'You didn't pass genetic muster, Scully, or maybe you did, too well. The Syndicate couldn't use your DNA in their hybridisation experiments even though you appeared to be the ideal candidate. Like you, your ova refused to consort with just any piece of genetic material.' A laugh escaped as a stray thought crossed Mulder's mind, _except mine. You don't know it yet, Emily was mine too. They considered her a failure and took her from us. I won't let that happen to these three children_.


	3. Chapter 3

I wanted this chapter to play out so differently, but Mulder had other ideas. I found it hard to keep him on track and even harder to keep Scully furious with him. I'm afraid Mulder got his way and it means a major revision of my story outline…..

I apologise Trycee, I know you were looking forward to a really annoyed Scully. Mulder just wouldn't co-operate, at least in this chapter. There'll be many more opportunities I'm sure.

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><p>It takes time to heal from the loss of your loved ones, or so everyone informed him. Why the memory arose unbidden confused Mulder. It'd been years since he'd thought about his wife. He actively and deliberately buried the memories with Katherine years ago. Yet on the lonely drive to his apartment, the one he'd shared with Katherine for such a short period of time, he couldn't stop thinking of her.<p>

The recollections came easily, logically, contemporaneously. Mulder remembered the first time they met. Not the most romantic of circumstances. They'd both felt the instant pull of attraction.

'Who's that,' Mulder pointed to the petite woman standing alone in the corner. Her mouth set in lines of determination. Obviously she wanted to get this over and done as soon as humanly possible. Scrutinising every movement occurring before her, Katherine's eyes hit on Mulder the moment he entered the crime scene.

Her hair, not quite red head but not quite blond either seemed an unlikely combination with eyes as dark and green as emeralds. Those eyes surveyed the new comer, wondering how he fit into the investigation, what it meant in terms of capturing her father's murderer. She watched as he examined the room, the outline were the body rested and the other agents present.

'The daughter,' one of the agents assigned to the homicide of Federal Court Judge Malcolm Macomb muttered, wondering why the Bureau's best profiler had been called in, 'we've already questioned her.'

'I think I'll go and talk to her,' Mulder stated, moving off before the agent had time to answer.

'I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder,' he introduced himself, 'I'm sorry for your loss Miss Macomb.'

'Katherine, please,' she took his large hand and pumped it with a surprising strength given the emotional stress held tightly within. 'I don't know that I can tell you anything I haven't already told at least three other Federal Agents.'

They spoke for several minutes, Mulder putting her at ease, before ascertaining she'd been the one to discover her father's body. Katherine knew the intimate details of the controversial case's her father attracted. The latest involving a well know underworld crime figure. Like many others, it'd drawn death threats from multiple sources.

'At first, intimidation seemed to be the method of forcing my father to give up the case,' Katherine explained, 'he wouldn't, on principle alone. Bribery came next, which he refused. Finally they threatened his life. It looks like they succeeded.'

Handing the young woman his card with his home number scrawled on the back, Mulder offered, 'if you remember anything else, or just need to touch base with someone, give me a call.'

'Thank you,' Katherine returned, a sad smile coving her lips. Mulder realised she'd almost reached the end of her emotional detachment and stoic strength. 'I believe I will.'

Three days later, Katherine called, under the guise of asking about her father's case. They arranged to meet for a coffee, even though both knew protocol didn't allow Mulder to discuss an ongoing investigation. She requested his attendance at the Judge's funeral and he agreed. Katherine clung to Mulder at the grave side, finally accepting the emotional repercussions of her father's brutal death.

'Please come back to the house,' her eyes hinted at not wanting to spend this day, or night alone. Mulder didn't leave with the other guests. He didn't leave the house for several days.

Nine weeks later, seated at one of D.C. up and coming restaurants, Mulder stated, 'you just about live at my apartment. Move in with me, Katherine.'

'Not until I have a gold band on this finger,' she returned in her no nonsense style.

'How soon can you arrange it,' Mulder fired back.

'Give me two weeks,' she promised, 'and I want to meet your family before we get married.

Saturday, two weeks later, Mulder awaited his bride in the garden of her uncle's seaside home. The fifteen invited guests witnessed the ceremony and stayed for Mr and Mrs Mulder's first meal. Harold Macomb left the newlyweds to enjoy his Chesapeake Bay home in lieu of a honeymoon their hastily arranged marriage wouldn't allow. True to Katherine's nature, the event passed in quiet obscurity as the press reported the capture of her father's murderer.

'Married six weeks, Mulder,' Katherine complained as she burst through the doors of the ER, 'and I get the call I've dreaded since the day I met you.'

'It's just a flesh wound,' he returned, grinning at the worried expression on her face.

'It might not be next time,' sighing, Katherine took the seat beside his bed. 'I want you to think about making that donation,' she requested, 'if the worst should happen to you, I want to have choices.'

So he'd made the donation and his wife, a Medical Scientist at a newly opened IVF clinic, arranged storage. A month later, when she began to feel lethargic and fatigued, Katherine Mulder had a colleague take her blood. Hoping it meant the beginning of a new life, the cancer diagnosis devastated her.

'I want you to promise me something,' Katherine's eyes implored her husband of six months. She'd spent the last two weeks in palliative care, unable and unwilling to return home. What the cancer fail to do, the chemo and radiotherapy achieved. Mulder barely coped with his daily life since receiving the overwhelming news. Still in denial, Katherine needed him to acknowledge the truth before she could go to her rest.

'Anything,' Mulder promised, his hazel eye refusing to see the husk of a woman before him. His wife, small framed to begin with, shrunk to half her original weight.

'Mourn my passing, remember me but move on with your life,' she demanded. Practical to a fault, Katherine needed him to keep this last promise.

'No,' he denied, 'you're going to beat this. We still have so much to do with our lives.'

'You still have so much to accomplish with your life, Mulder,' Katherine corrected harshly. 'You're too young to be a widow, I know that. Find someone else you can love. Settle down, have the family we've been unable to conceive. Don't live your life in the shadow of my death.'

Katherine understood the disappearance of Samantha affected Mulder emotionally for years. She didn't want her death to hang like another mil stone around his neck. Devoid of more strength, she used the very last of her reserves to force her husband to finally acknowledge the truth. Closing her eyes for the last time, she slipped into a coma. Four hours later, Katherine Mulder took her last breath.

Pulling up in front of his building, Mulder couldn't remember much of the drive. Gathering the scattered papers on the passenger seat, he noticed Scully's car parked on the opposite side of the road. Attempting to make their lives appear entwined and the sudden engagement believable, he didn't want to face her just yet. He'd unwittingly kept too much from her.

Diana Fowley and the event of a few weeks ago should have been the catalyst, allowing Mulder to finally tell Scully the truth. Instead, she'd played on their previous association, hoping to rekindle her association with Mulder. Scully's resentful reaction gave away the depth of her emotions toward her partner. Using Scully's self-doubt, Diana had easily driven a wedge between the partners. Mulder watched the development with a psychologist's detachment in the hope Scully would finally admit to feeling more than friendship for him. He waited in vain.

A few days ago, Mulder confessed feelings long suppressed. The bold statement, taking all of his courage, hadn't elicited the response he wanted. Scully like to believe she knew him, knew his tastes in women. She liked to believe Mulder didn't find a strong, independent woman attractive. Nothing could be further from the truth. While he enjoyed window shopping as much as any other red blooded American male, tall, leggy woman, like Bambi, Detective White or Diana Fowley, amused him. He could easily pass time with them, but not be enticed into a serious relationship. Truth be told Dana Katherine Scully and Katherine Mulder shared so much in common. Strength, purpose, intelligence chiefly among the traits he found attractive. The similarity in their names didn't escape Mulder's notice.

Gathering his courage to face Scully and her anger at the position he'd placed them in, Mulder exited his car. Silence greeting him as he stepped through the door to his apartment. Scully sat, dumbfounded, with an open box on her lap. In that instant, Mulder knew his world had come crashing down.

Katherine, for all her rationalism and logic, hid a secret romantic streak. Every memento of every event they'd attended as a couple, baseball tickets, restaurant receipts, dried flowers, went into her keepsake box. The items told a story of courtship, matrimony and death played out in nine months. While Mulder had forced himself to remove every other reminder of his wife, he couldn't bring himself to part with the box.

Looking up at her partner, now fiancée with tears pooling in the corners, Scully spoke quietly, 'I knew you'd been married. It's in your personal file. After the way Diana Fowley reacted to seeing you, I thought you'd been more than partners.'

Continuing to stand in the doorway between his entry and the living room, Mulder felt trapped. On one hand, he wanted to flee, away from the sadness in Scully's orbs and the regret that life had taken something so precious from him. On the other, he needed to explain how he'd finally kept his promise to Katherine and found someone else he could love, could have a family with.

'I'm grateful to Diana, I owe her, for reasons I couldn't explain to you before,' Mulder voice took on a defensive tone.

Refusing to meet her startled gaze, his voice so low, so filled with despondency, Scully struggled to hear it. Placing the box at her feet, she rose from the couch. Taking his hand, Dana led him to the sofa, sitting beside her partner. Waiting patiently, Mulder picked up the carton from the floor and removed the lid. Fighting his fear, finally he reached inside and found the object his finger searched for.

'For the year after Katherine's death, I refused to take my wedding ring off,' Mulder explained, his voice filled with sorrow as he watched the gold band shine in the early morning light, 'I couldn't let go, and didn't want to. The first time our eyes met, I knew, Scully, I knew how much she'd come to mean to me.' The story tumbled out. Mulder expression infused with all the emotions he locked away. They played across his face, tears falling freely. 'I threw myself into work, trying to find a reason why a perfectly healthy twenty five year old woman contracts cancer. I explored every avenue Scully, every possibility no mater how far fetched.'

Swallowing hard to keep her empathy at bay, Dana asked, 'you discovered the X-files?'

'Actually, Diana Fowley lead me to them,' Mulder confessed. 'A case came across her desk in the Violent Crimes section. A man died muttering "Mulder" and she brought it to my attention. Diana believed by sparking my interest in the work she could legitimately spend time with me. She attempted to draw us into a personal relationship.'

A delicately arched eyebrow asked the questions Scully's lips couldn't. Despite himself, Mulder couldn't stop the amusement he felt at Scully continued jealousy. 'I'm thankful to Diana for pulling my head out of my ass and realising the world didn't revolve around me and what I'd lost. I knew I bordered on clinical depression, sleeping with _**Her**_ cured me of that. I felt I'd betrayed the memory of my wife. Finally I could grieve and begin to let Katherine go. It forced my focus to Samantha's abduction and the X-files.'

Keeping her delight at bay, Scully managed to increase the height of her eyebrow. 'You're telling me you aren't attracted to Diana Fowley?' she quipped.

'Scully,' turning serious once again, he turned to face her. 'Dana, I've truly loved two women in my life, Katherine and you.'

Disbelief clouded her eyes. Scepticism internally generated from Scully inability to accept her feelings. Understanding, Mulder moved to the shelving unit which contained his fish tank. He didn't need to search out the second container, almost identical to Katherine's keepsake box. He knew its location by heart. Mulder had commenced collecting items seven years ago. Handing it to Scully, he returned to his place on the couch, waiting for her reaction.

'It's always been the same for me, Scully,' Mulder stated, 'love at first sight. I wanted to loath you. I knew why you'd been sent. I couldn't stop the instant attraction, so I worked to conceal it.'

Fingers shaking, Dana opened the lid. Mementos from the last seven years filled the box, almost to overflowing. The receipt from the diner where they'd met Teresa Neman on their first case. Another from their second case along with the photo Mulder brought for twenty dollars and Scully had called him a sucker. A napkin and the candle representing the night Mulder had remember her birthday.

'Katherine taught me to treasure the small moments, Scully,' Mulder intruded on her introspection, 'I thought this would be all I could ever have with you.'

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><p>I both love and hate it when Mulder is so sweet and tender with Scully, it gives a depth to his character we rarely saw on the show. I guess it's what kept us watching all those years, the underplayed and tortured hero.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Scully took this chapter and made it her own, without any thought of how it's affect my story line (yet another revision, you can't trust anyone!). This is turning into a very different tale than the simple one I'd initially envisioned. I'm writing with tears in my eyes after Mulder's confession and sadness in my heart with Scully response. You'll see what I mean. I hope you enjoy as much as I've enjoyed both writing it and reading your reviews. I can't thank you all enough for the encouragement.

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><p>Fossicking in the keepsake box, Sully came undone with a vial. Still containing deionised water, blue in colour, what it held, what it represented, stirred her memories. Mulder had moved hell and earth to obtain the tiny metallic implant and fought her family to have it entrenched in her neck. Now she understood why, and the importance of this object.<p>

Scully's mind found a single image, focusing on the moment. One memory stood out. In seven years, she realised how important this one recollection, how it truly demonstrated Fox Mulder's feeling for his partner, for HER.

She'd been asleep. Sleep had come in fits and starts. _So tired, I'd become so tired_, Scully remembered those harrowing days_, I took a few moments rest whenever I could. I woke up and felt Mulder at my side._

The image came unbidden. He sat on the floor of her hospital room, her death bed. Father McCue and her family gathered as the day vanished into night. The last rights had been given, just in case she slipped away before the sun reappeared. Scully made her decisions, she'd signed the Not for Resuscitation order with her own hand, realising how futile bring her back would prove. She'd made peace with God and her family. Only Mulder remained. She'd admitted to herself, in that moment, as she contemplated her own demise, exactly what her partner meant to her. She expected to die, couldn't see any other option, there would be no last minute reprieve this time. Regrets filled her mind, remorse at withholding her emotions from Mulder, of what they might have had, if she'd had the courage to acknowledge and show her love.

Like a dream, he half lay on her bed, half kneeled on the floor in a crumpled, broken heap. Mulder's larger, stronger hand covered hers, crushing in its intensity to be close. Brown locks brushed her stomach, his head resting on the pristine white sheets. Beneath, a spreading patch, tears adding to the wetness as more rolled, uncontrolled and silent down his face, his cheek. Each caught in the moon light cascading through the open window. It made the scene even more eerie and depressing as he too realised how soon she might leave him alone and friendless in this world.

Face distorted, contorted in pain, so deep and unyielding, Scully had never seen Mulder in such a depth of despair. Her hand automatically reached out to him, stroking the top of his head, attempting to offer comfort. In his hopeless despondency, he didn't feel her touch, couldn't react to it if he had. Mulder became trapped in a place beyond consolation and reassurance. Resting there, she felt the silent, wracking sobs traveling the length of his body. Shoulders shuddered, his chest heaved in air when he remembered to breath. Throughout it all, not a sound escaped. Scully's emotions, grieved by the sight, joined in the silent requiem.

At the time she thought he cried for all he'd lost, all he would lose in the coming days. Scully still believe that. Now, after his confessions about his first wife, Dana couldn't help drawing the same conclusion Mulder must have on that night, not even a year ago. _It's happening again, this horrendous disease is taking away the woman I love for the second time. What have I done to deserve this?_

'Mulder,' the word came out as a soft sigh. The exceptional bond between them worked overtime. He'd followed her mental mussing, understood the ramifications just as Scully appreciated a new perspective.

'I tried to tell you last week,' Mulder returned in a muted tone, realising she now understood, comprehended the depth of his feeling for her. In believing, Scully finally allowed the emotions she kept walled away in her heart to break free. A subtle change in her facial expression displayed the devotion and adoration she felt.

Moving closer, the space between them all but non-existent, a hand reached out to cup Scully face. The soft, delicate skin of her cheek against his roughened palm felt like haven. Closing her lids, Dana pushed into the contact as her hand to drift upwards. Finding Mulder's warm skin, she laid her delicate fingers over his. The emotion of the moment too much to take in, Mulder's thumb stroked the darkening patch of skin beneath her eye. Both desperately tired after working all night, they needed this. Mulder and Scully needed this deep and undivided connection. Their future and that of three small, helpless children depended on it.

'I know,' Scully remembered the words. She'd wanted them to be true, for Mulder to truly mean it. She'd been unable to believe at the time, given the amount of pain medication the doctors had pumped into his system. Opening her eyes, capturing Mulder's expressive hazel gaze, she finally accepted the truth.

Needing to feel closer to Mulder, Scully's hand reached behind his head. She remembered the other times they'd been this close. In the hallway of the Allentown hospital, the day Penny passed. Mulder had kissed her in comfort. A kiss of promise, he'd do anything in his power to battle the cancer ravaging her body.

Then came reassignment and transferred to Salt Lake City, effective immediately. He'd begged her to stay, for him. Mulder admitted she made him a better person, a whole person. The kiss might have happened, one meaning so much. Like so many other events in their life, powers beyond them intervened.

The diamond on her left hand caught in the light, bring Scully back to the present. Mulder, unable to wait, lowered his head. They met half way, in a light, gentle kiss. It expressed so much, friendship, the basis of their commitment to each other and the passion that would come, later, at a more appropriate and convenient time.

In yet another rapid change of mood, Mulder pushed up off the couch. Pulling Scully with him, he moved toward the door she'd discovered an hour ago. Watching the tall man pick his way through years of accumulated debris, Scully wonder if he stopped using his bedroom after his wife's death.

Mulder stoped in his tracks, his voice filled with pain. 'I haven't been in this room since Katherine….'

Scully's expression displayed her anxiety for him. Returning to his task, Mulder located the bureau, opened the bottom draw and pulled out a book covered in the same material as Katherine's keepsake box. It didn't take Scully long to realise the photo album accompanied the carton in the living room, completing Katherine Mulder's story.

'You always thought the Diana Fowley's of this world attracted me, Scully,' he quipped, a lingering sadness covering his expression. Making his way back to the couch, he sighed heavily as he left the bedroom, the memories still too much for him to bear. 'I want to show you the kind of woman I fall for.'

The album became a revelation. The first picture, taken at a grave site, showed Katherine wrapped in Mulder's arms. If a photo had been taken in the hallway of the Allentown hospital the day Scully decided to fight her fate, you could swear the women were at least sisters. Katherine, in three inch block heals, fit snuggly beneath Mulder's chin, just as Scully did.

'Katherine was a doctor?' Scully asked, turning the page to see a shot of the woman in a white coat surrounded by medical equipment.

'Medical Scientist,' Mulder answered, 'she worked for the same fertility clinic I used to hide your ova.'

Scully's head snapped around, her eyes capturing Mulder's with a furious glare. The puzzle pieces finally coalesced. While she wanted to be angry with Mulder for once again holding out on her, Scully found her wrath aimed at the clinic for allowing their gametes to be used without their knowledge or permission.

'They used us and our DNA to create three children, Mulder,' Scully stated furiously, 'and implanted them into another woman. If the Gunmen hadn't followed up on this, we'd never know, never get the chance to hold our children.'

Glancing nervously at the mass of papers on his coffee table, Mulder wondered how he'd convey the most important points in the time they had. Taking each of her shoulders in one of his strong, warm hands, he started, 'Scully, I need you to listen to the whole story before you say anything. Do you think you can do that?'

Nodding, she bit the inside of her cheek. Dana Katherine Scully knew she wouldn't like what came next. The dullness creeping into Mulder's expression assured her, he didn't like it either. They'd both been used.

'After being injured early in our marriage, Katherine convinced me to freeze,' suddenly lost for words, Mulder embarrassment coloured his words, 'samples. Knowing how dangerous my work could be, she wanted to have choices. You're going to be my wife, Scully and thanks to Katherine's forward planning, we have choices.'

'Some of those choices have been made for us. Three children are currently in state care. They're our children, Scully, and I can't let them stay there and neither can you. Why they've been conceived and born, I don't have a definitive answer. I now know Dr Scanlon worked at the clinic with Katherine but left shortly after her death. I don't know if this had any bearing on her demand to store my sperm. I suspect she'd become an innocent porn in a much larger game.'

'Part of my donation ended up with Transgen Industries in the hand of Dr Calderon,' forced to stop at Scully's sharply drawn in breath, Mulder saw her connect the dots.

'Emily,' she muttered.

'The first and only successful attempt to incorporate alien DNA into your stolen ova,' Mulder sympathized. 'You never ran Emily's paternity through the DNA data base, Scully. If you had….'

'Oh,' the strangled noise escaped her throat.

'They considered our daughter a failure. They deliberately kept her from us. It didn't matter what you did, Scully,' Mulder attempted reassurance, 'neither of us would have succeeded in adopting her, separately or together. They considered her a tool, learning all they could before they allowed the alien DNA in her system to kill her.'

'I have records of all the attempts made to hybridize your DNA and mine. Scully,' Mulder ensured their gaze remained locked, 'the only successful attempts incorporated both of our genomes. These children are the only living result of all that experimentation and I have proof they are completely human. Most of our genetic material has been erased from the experimental stock. The last eleven blastocysts are safely stored in dry ice in the trunk of my car. We don't have much time to find somewhere to store them, if you want to carry our child one day.'

'Of all the thousands of ova they stole,' Scully swallowed convulsively, working hard to overcome her anger, 'all the damage they did to my body, for what Mulder. They left me barren and didn't care enough to expunge the junk DNA from their experimentation. I lost months of my life.'

Taking the visibly shaking woman into his embrace, Mulder pulled her as tightly against him as possible. Laying a kiss on the crown of her head, he mumbled, 'I know, Scully, I know. I wish I had all the answers for you, but I don't. I know we have three defenseless children who need the care and protection of their parents. No matter how they came to be, they're ours, Scully. Yours and mine and I'm not about to let anyone else raise my children after all we've been through.'

Her tears, held at bay so long, fell. Large, hot drops of salty water wet Mulder's rumpled shirt. He didn't care. This day had become cathartic for both of them.

'Do you honestly think they'll let us have them?' Scully found the courage to ask.

'Yes,' Mulder replied, 'they don't serve any purpose to the greater project. By allowing us custody, they effectively close the X-files, or leave them in the hands of Fowley and Spender which amounts to the same. We won't be able to work together and at least one of us will have to be at home. The emotional upheaval for our little girl will be devastating. Taking an eleven month old will be hard work, Scully. She's at a point in her life where she's learning to explore her environment, using the adults she's come to trust as a safe haven. That's been ripped away from her. She'll need time to develop a relationship with us. If we want to gain her trust and resolve any issues she'll develop because of this, at least one of us needs to be a stay at home parent.'

'They decrease our efficacy as we deal with becoming a family. Even if we did get the X-files back, Scully, it'd be impossible for us to work them together. Apart from the FBI's regulations regarding fraternization between partners, it'd be unsafe for both of us to be in the field together. I'm not about to risk our children becoming orphans for a second time for my selfish reasons. Besides, you'll need to take maternity leave,' Mulder stated easily, 'because the Bureau isn't forward thinking. Unlike Europe, paternity leave for men isn't an option. The best I can do is take the eleven weeks leave the Bureau owes me to help you settle into become a mother of three.'

'I hadn't thought that far ahead,' Scully confessed.

'I am an Oxford trained psychologist,' Mulder's sarcastic humor won him a slight smile from his partner. 'The boys turn a week old today. They'll attach to you easily. They won't remember the transition from one set of parent to another.'

'Three children under the age of one, Mulder,' suddenly the enormity of the situation dawned on Scully. Taking mental stock of what she'd already achieved, Dana added several items to her mental to do list. 'We need to file the licence before our 10am appointment,' she started, intending to divide the workload between them.

'Scully,' Mulder moved a finger to her lips in a gesture meant to silence her, 'Judge Macomb isn't going to marry us. I'm hoping he'll give us temporary custody of our children as he's the one who granted The Sisters of the Poor interim guardianship. He can rescind the ruling with the evidence I've gathered. Genetically these are our children and we have a right to them given the extreme circumstances surrounding their conception.'

'I trust him completely,' Mulder stated with determination as he saw the arguments gather in Scully's orbs. 'I'm not going to play on the connection to Katherine or the fact the profile I wrote captured his brother killer. Harold helped me forge connections in congress which gave me access to confidential information and the X-files. He never believed Katherine's death to be a completely natural event. Until I started work on the X-files, until I saw the things our government did to innocent women, to you, I wouldn't allow myself to believe him. It took me until last night to prove he might be right.'

* * *

><p>I honestly don't know how I didn't see it before. Mulder plays Scully's emotions beautifully. They really are very co-dependant.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

'It's almost seven,' Scully commented, looking down at her watch. 'Kersh should be in his office soon, I'll call in.'

'You realise what this means, Scully,' Mulder warned, observing his fiancée from under hooded lids. 'After the stunt I pulled and you going after me, he's going to find a way to suspend both of us. Taking the day off together will give him the opportunity he needs.'

'Maybe it's better this way,' Scully heaved a sigh. Noticing the gathering arguments, she cut her partner off, 'I'll tell him we have a family emergency and need the week off. If we gain custody of the children, we're going to have to make permanent changes, Mulder.'

'We'll know in about three hours,' Mulder reminded, reaching out a hand and wrapping his fingers around hers in a gesture of comfort and hope.

'Then the work starts, Mulder,' Scully fired back, pulling away. Standing, she paced the small room showing the level of her agitation. 'Neither your apartment or mine is suitable for a family of five. We'll need to look for a house. At least one of us is going to need a bigger car. We have nothing for children, clothes, toys, cribs, dippers, car seats and the hundred other items we're going to realise we need that I've not even had the time or energy to think about. I have savings, which will go some way to affording all of this…'

'Scully,' Mulder stoped her rapid train of thought before it became a runaway express. Standing, he forced her to stop by placing his much larger frame in her way. Once again placing a hand on each shoulder, he lent down and kissed her. The light, gentle kiss, the same one they'd shared half an hour ago, silenced Dana. Breaking away, Mulder declared, 'I'm going to get breakfast. We both think better with caffeine and sugar in our systems after being awake for twenty four hours. We still have a very long day.'

Nodding her agreement, Scully's eyes glanced down at the paperwork she'd been studying. Everything Mulder found, the proof they needed to gain access to their children, printed in black and white. Culpability on the part of the fertility clinic gave them a legal precedent to challenge and changed the children's birth certificates. Once Fox William Mulder and Dana Katherine Scully became legally defined as father and mother, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to take their children away. So much had happened in the last few hours. Everything she'd ever wanted. Scully still couldn't believe she'd soon be a wife and mother, all things going too plan. She needed time to rationalise it, to understand it, time they didn't have.

Taking her cell out of her pocket, Scully dialled the FBI switch and asked for Kersh's office as Mulder closed the door after himself. She let out the breath she'd been holding. The amount of emotion they'd both expended in the last hour had just about used the last of her reserves, physical and mental. A short break from Mulder's overwhelming personality gave Scully time to breath.

'Agent Scully,' Kersh's sarcastic, gravely tone washed over the line, 'to what do I owe this pleasure.'

'Sir,' she started politely, 'Agent Mulder and I have a family crisis. We will be taking a week's emergency leave effective immediately.'

'Denied,' he snapped back, 'I want the both of you in my office within the hour.'

'I'm afraid that impossible, Sir,' Scully almost managed to hide the fury in her voice.

'Impossible,' Kersh picked up on the resentment. A sly smile covered his lips as his mind used this information to his best advantage.

'Yes, Sir,' Scully returned.

'Care to tell me about this family crisis,' Kersh cooed sarcastically. His thoughts easy to read, Agents Scully and Mulder weren't family and to the best of his knowledge, didn't share family, therefor they couldn't have an emergency in common.

_No_, Scully's mind screamed, _I don't want to share anything with you_. Thinking about the possible future ramifications, she told the truth. 'Agent Mulder and I have, on separate occasions, years apart, made deposits to the same IVF clinic. The fertility clinic made a horrendous error. They used our stored genetic material to conceive three children and implanted them into another woman. The couple died Wednesday evening leaving the children as wards of the state. Agent Mulder and I have discovered the existence of our children and are currently attempting to gain custody.'

'Agent Scully,' convulsive swallowing could be heard on the other end of the line. Kersh might take his orders from some faceless, nameless individual higher in the food chain, but he couldn't help be shocked by the story. Both outstanding agents, he understood they'd have undeniable evidence before making such a claim. That it achieved the task he's been assigned became a secondary consideration. 'Take all the time you need. We will discuss both Agent Mulder and your conduct when you return.'

'Sir,' Scully desperately tried to hide the rancour in her voice, 'I may require indefinite leave if Agent Mulder and I are successful. I'll keep you apprised to the situation.'

'Very good, Agent Scully,' he ended the call. If Scully had been in his office she would have seen the thoughtful expression on his face. Kersh's mind followed several paths, finally happening on one he liked. Picking up his phone, he dialled a well-known number. Minutes later, he knew Scully assertions to be true. Arrangement would be made to ensure the agents he'd inherited a few weeks ago, the agents making his life a misery, would soon be someone else's problem. Agent Scully would have her hand full with three children while Mulder would be trapped in the Behavioural Sciences Unit at Quantico.

Pulling the dead phone from her ear, Dana looked at it for several shocked seconds. It'd all gone a little too well. She'd have to consider Kersh's easy capitulation later. Right now she had another call she needed to make.

'Mom,' Scully greeted, 'I have some news. Mulder's asked me to marry him and I've agreed.'

'When,' an astounded Margaret Scully asked.

'Actually, Mulder asked back in May,' her daughter returned, 'we haven't set a date yet, but it'll be in the next few days.'

'Dana,' concern coloured Maggie voice.

'We've kept our relationship quite, Mom,' Scully crossed her fingers. She didn't like lying, especially to her mother, 'because of the situation at work.'

'Has something happened to change that,' instinct guided the older woman.

Halfway through telling her mother the same story as Assistant Director Kersh, but in more depth, Mulder returned from the deli across the street with breakfast. Handing Scully a cream cheese bagel and hazelnut latte, a rare treat with so much sugary syrup, she thanked him before returning her attention to the phone. Cringing, Mulder heard Maggie's excitement from two feet away.

'We don't want to wait to get married, Mom,' Scully explained, 'if it means gaining custody of the children.' Listening for several seconds, she answered, 'I'm not sure. Mulder and I haven't discussed it yet. We've signed the licence and will file it this morning on the way to a closed hearing in the Judges office. There aren't any requirements in Virginia so we could marry immediately if we wanted…Yes, there are some things you could do for me. I need you to call Bill and Charlie and let them know. See if they can make a flying visit home…Call me when you know. Could you contact Father McCue and see if he's able to conduct the service…It'll only be small, family and close friend's…Mom, do you still have your wedding dress?...Yes, I'd like to wear it…OK, Mom, I love you.'

Handing Mulder the phone, Scully's eyebrow rose. 'Mom wants to talk to you,' she tried and failed to hide the smirk.

Taking the instrument with a scene of trepidation, Mulder listened. The old word escaped, until finally he stated, 'Scully and I will discuss a time and place. Maggie, I won't lie to you, it needs to be soon, this weekend at the latest. I'll have your daughter call you back so you can make arrangements.'

'Someone's excited,' Mulder mocked.

'Can you blame her,' Scully quipped, 'Mom's about to get a son-in-law and three grandchildren living within an hour's drive. Both Charlie and Bill live in California with their families. Mom visits twice a year but it's not enough since Dad passed away.'

'Scully,' a thoughtful look stealing across Mulder's face, 'has your Mom considered moving closer to your brothers.'

'She's considered it,' Scully returned, a frown marring her forehead. 'I think Dad and Missy's graves keep her here.'

'What if we considered moving to San Diego in the future, Scully,' Mulder asked.

'It'd tip the scales if all her children and grandchildren lived in the same state. Mom could always come back to visit Dad and Missy,' Scully considered the idea and realised she actually liked it. She had so many happy memories of the years her family spent at HMAS Miramar. Allowing her children the opportunity to grow up in the sunshine, by the sea appealed to Scully. 'What about you, Mulder?' she asked, intrigued.

'What do I have left in D.C., Scully,' he returned, 'both my parents have passed on. We've lost the X-files, any chance of locating Samantha and uncovering the truth. Soon, I'll have a wife and three children to protect. I want to be a better father than mine. I won't let work consume me now we've been given the chance to be a family.'

Smiling at his words, Scully teased, 'we need to get moving, if you want to achieve all that by the end of today.'

Returning her grin, Mulder collected the rubbish from their hasty breakfast and lead Scully out of his apartment. While waiting for the lift, he said, 'I called the Gunman and asked them to get a background on the family who received our embryos, Scully. They said they'd call back in a couple of hours. I'm hoping before we met The Judge.'

'You think it's important?' She asked.

'We need to make sure no other family member might fight for the right to again custody of our children,' Mulder answered. 'if they do, we might have a prolonged and expensive legal battle on our hands.'

Anger and disillusionment flared briefly in Scully's blue orbs. 'We're going to be under enough financial pressure coping with three infants, Mulder,' she worried, 'how will we be able to raise the money to for a protracted court battle if needed.'

'Scully,' Mulder sounded embarrassed, 'my parents left me well off.' Detailing his portfolio, Scully's jaw dropped.

'I didn't know,' she stammered, turning to look at him over the top of his car. _Although I should have guessed with the cut and quality of your work attire, the fact you could just jet off to Hong Kong at the last minute and not charge the flight to investigative expenses, or hire a boat in Florida on a whim, smash it to smithereens and not complain when you didn't get the deposit back._

'I haven't told anyone,' Mulder confessed, 'I always considered my parents wealth tainted.' Abruptly changing the subject, he ordered Scully into his car. 'We need to find somewhere to hide the embryos,' he explained, 'if you want to keep them viable for future use.'

Thinking hard, Scully remembered, 'Pendrill's old lab has a room in the back. No one's been in it since his death. I asked Jennifer Lancaster, the lab assistant last week and she said it's used for equipment storage. I recall seeing a cryo-storage vat. It would give us time to find a more permanent location.'

Nodding his agreement, Mulder turned his car in the direction of the Hoover building.


	6. Chapter 6

Dropping into the FBI, then filing the licence took most of the morning, as the Monday traffic snarled to a complete stop. Mulder's watch read two minutes after ten by the time they'd reached Harold Macomb's chambers. Scully'd came to accept his tardiness, so his irritation at being late for this appointment surprised her. The sectary knew Mulder on sight, greeted him by name, then ushered them through while requesting their beverage preference.

'Mulder,' a man in his early sixties came around his impressive cherry wood desk. Tailored immaculately, Scully smelt his expensive aftershave from her place beside and slightly behind Mulder. Instead of offering his hand, Harold Macomb took Mulder into a bear hug like a long lost son. Releasing him, the Judge stepped back and simply stared at the man before him. 'It's been a while since I last saw you,' he stated easily, patting the younger man on his shoulder.

Accepting the statement as a subtle rebuke, Mulder brought Scully forward, his hand resting firmly at the base of her spine. 'Harold, I'd like you to meet my Fiancée, Dana Scully.'

Too well trained by years in the legal profession, Harold Macomb barely flinched at the news. _Obviously_, Scully sighed internally, _I'm not the only one Mulder keeps in the dark._ It didn't stop the older, distinguished man from scrutinising the woman before him. While Dana couldn't determine his feelings, Harold's face had become too well school in neutrality in his profession, they had to be similar to hers. The resemblance between Harold niece and the woman at Mulder's side were considerable.

'I see you've finally taken Katherine's advice,' he commented, the timber of his voice deep and resonating. Offering his hand, he tested Scully's strength and resolve with the shake. The slight smile seemed to imply she'd passed his initial assessment.

'I've heard a lot about you, Sir,' Scully met his eye unflinchingly. It broadened the smile.

'Really,' Harold continued to keep the young woman glare, amused by her. 'I can't say Mulder has returned the favour. Your engagement comes as somewhat of a surprise. However, it doesn't follow that the announcement is unwelcome. I never thought he'd manage to find a woman to measure up to my niece. I like to be proven wrong on occasion.'

Surprised by the level of candour, Scully blushed furiously. Deciding to return the favour, she said, 'I only learnt of Mulder's first marriage this morning.'

'Still playing your card close to your chest, Son,' Harold let out a good natured chuckle. 'That's no way to start a lifelong commitment. Katherine wouldn't have approved, although, I dare say, she'd grown use to it, being involved with you. I believe your fiancée understands better than my niece ever could.'

A delicate eyebrow arched, accompanied by Scully's polite "_I'm humouring you"_ look aimed at both men. Not embarrassed in the least, Mulder guided his partner over to a comfortable looking leather couch and waited until she sat before taking his place at her side. 'I trust Scully with my life, Sir,' Mulder held Harold's knowing gaze. 'We've worked together on the X-file for seven years. She knows about my connections in congress and who arranged them for me.'

'Good,' Harold turned serious. Re-evaluating the diminutive woman he noticed a rigidity and toughness not present in Katherine, an inflexibility keeping Mulder honest and grounded. Lowering his body into a chair, his attention focused, he stated, 'then I don't need to beat around the bush. What have you got for me?'

Scully reached into her briefcase, retrieving a Manilla folder. Handing it over, she gave the man a subtle warning. Harold understood, this woman didn't want the contents spread. Like his niece, Dana Scully valued her personal space and privacy.

Personally, Federal Judge Harold Macomb could see why Mulder waited to fall in love again. The differences between Katherine and his new fiancée could only be termed subtle. Both women strong, determined, intelligent, practical, rational, Scully took adventurous and independent further than Katherine, given her employment as a federal agent and position as Mulder's work partner.

Saddened by the thought, Harold realised Dana Scully would be a better wife than Katherine in many ways. Twenty years younger and Harold believe he'd challenge Mulder for the red head's regard. The obvious love Scully demonstrated for the man at her side told Harold he'd need to fight to secure her affections. Still, it'd be a battle worth fighting.

'Miss Scully,' he started.

'Dr Scully,' she corrected automatically.

'That will help with your custody arrangements,' Harold commented slyly, glancing down at the papers in his hand.

They were interrupted by a soft knock on the door. Balancing a tray, Harold's sectary handed a delicate china cup to Mulder and another to Scully. Placing the Judges on a coaster, she unloaded the remainder of the coffee in the cafeteria, milk, sugar and a plate of sandwiches before leaving as unobtrusively as she arrived.

Waving at the young couple to start without him, Harold became entrenched in the documents on his lap. Several times he made audible noises, the meaning of which couldn't be interpreted. The coffee and sandwiches finished, time dragged on and Mulder started to fidget. Placing his arm around Scully's shoulders, she looked up at him, questioning his action. Shrugging his shoulders and placing a seed in his mouth, Dana smiled realising the level of Mulder's unease.

'When this case goes before the family court,' Harold suddenly announced. Cutting the protests before they began, he continued in a monotone, 'this is a very unusual case. I can arrange temporary guardianship, given the special circumstances. Your attempt to adopt Emily, a special needs child goes in your favour, Dr Scully. It demonstrates a willingness to open your heart and home. However your disregard for her medical treatment will be seen as interference and have a negative affect. The final decision will need to be heard before a full court if you want legal acknowledgement these children are your stolen biological offspring. That will gain you legal rights and a lack of interference adoption can't. Once your names are on the birth certificate, it opens the door for you to sue the fertility clinic.'

'I hadn't thought as far ahead as challenging this in the legal arena,' Mulder stated, his mind working on the implications of catching the men responsible for Scully's cancer and infertility.

'We have a long journey before thinking about metering out justice,' Harold warned. 'You have a lot you need to do. Are you living together?'

'No,' Scully cut in, 'we are in the process of looking for a house suitable for our family.'

Nodding almost against his will, Harold continued, 'when are you getting married?'

'We have the licence,' Mulder stated, 'Maggie, Scully mother is arranging the family priest and the rest of the family as we speak.'

'Make is soon,' Harold frowned.

'We were thinking this weekend,' Mulder confirmed.

Just why she made the offer, Scully couldn't tell. Finding herself saying, 'would you like to attend, Sir?'

Harold's expression changed as he answered, 'delighted. Maybe I can do something about your living arrangements too.' A moment passed, before the Judge continued, pointing at the papers. 'Tell me how you discovered this.'

Mulder's eye's landed on Scully. The Gunmen filled her in. Keeping her expression neutral, Dana would hall Mulder over the coals later.

'I have a source watching for DNA database matches to Scully's genetics, especially where children under the age of four are concerned,' Mulder confessed.

'Sensible, given her abduction,' Harold's left hand came up to the bridge of nose and squeeze lightly.

Astonishment coloured Scully's cerulean eyes. They asked Mulder how he knew. Their silent communication, effective as always, allowed him to answer. Federal Judge Harold Macomb knew as much about the conspiracy as Mulder and Scully. He'd guessed how her DNA had been collected.

'And the realisation you'd been used as the father?' Harold continued his questioning.

'Incidental,' Mulder replied, 'if the kids hadn't been abandoned, their DNA run through the federal computer, we'd never known about them or the injustice done to us. I have another source looking into the history of the recipient family.'

'Relatives?' Harold frowned, realising how this might change the situation completely.

'No,' Scully offered quietly. They'd heard from the Gunmen while waiting in the traffic on the way to this office. Hedging, Scully combined the information and recited, 'according to the fertility clinic records, Mrs Mulholland needed to use donor ova due to a family history of infertility. She's an only child, on her second marriage, and unable to conceive a child naturally. Both the Mulholland's were in their forties when they started treatment. The clinic allowed multiple blastocyst transfers due to age. They both list their parents as deceased. Joseph Mulholland has one brother, born with cerebral palsy, who's confined to an assisted living facility.'

Another knock at the door stopped the conversation. 'Ms Jockavic, the social worker, Mr Peters and his team have arrived,' Harold's sectary announced.

'Please send them in,' the Judge didn't look up from locating the information Scully had imparted.

The social worker took the last remaining chair, the five men stood around the Judge. Yellow legal pads appeared from the attaché cases the two junior attorneys as they prepared to take notes. After Harold briefly introduced everyone, he condensed the issues at hand. Fifteen minutes later, the case explained, the implications stated and his ruling given, Mr Peter's asked several questions. The conversation so filled with legalese, Scully and Mulder had difficultly following most of it.

Once the team followed Mr Peters out of Harold's office, Ms Jockavic turned to the Judge and summarised, 'so Mr Mulder and his Fiancée, Dr Scully, are the biological parents of Sophia and her as yet unnamed twin brothers. You've granted them temporary guardianship until the matter can be investigated and heard by the family court.'

'Yes,' Harold replied in a bland tone.

'I'll call Mother Superior,' Ms Jockavic stated, closing the note book she'd used to jot down information. Turning her attention to Mulder and Scully, she continued in a strained tone, 'and tell Mother Mary-Therese to expect you today. While I understand the ruling has been made, I have to say this situation is highly unusual. I'd be lying if I didn't object to this. Sophia is a very sensitive child who has been through several great upheavals in the last week. She is displaying signs of separation anxiety and I'm not sure this is the best solution. While I understand she needs a permanent home as soon as possible and placing her with her biological parents is the best option, I have to wonder at your situation. Are you ready, psychologically, emotionally and mentally to take on the care of three children.'

'Ms Jockavic,' Mulder kept his fury internalised. The hand on Scully's shoulder tightened, signalling his discontent while perceiving Dana's alarm at the same time. To come this close and have it all taken away by a woman who didn't know them or their situation, angered the partners. 'Scully is a medical doctor and I'm a psychologist. I think we understand the implications to an eleven month old child who's suffered the loss of the only safe adults she's known all her life. Our daughter has spent four nights in an orphanage because of a clerical error on the part of the IVF clinic, further hampering us from bonding with our child. We have spoken about the issues, the effect on our careers and the need for a stay at home parent. I believe your objections are not valid in this case.'

Thoroughly put in her place, the woman spluttered an apology.

Unable to let it go at that, Scully took her turn. 'From the clinic records Mulder and I were able to obtain during our investigation, I understand both boys have been returned to the neo-natal unit at Georgetown Hospital. They were born at thirty-five weeks and taken in the early hours of Thursday morning before being left at the orphanage with Sophia. The smaller twin's exposure caused hypothermia and he is still listed in a critical condition, while his brother appears to have no ill effects from his abduction. I have resisted talking to the twins' doctor until they have been legally placed in our care. However, after purchasing a car seat appropriate for Sophia, Mulder and I intend to visit the hospital and speak with the boys' doctor.'

'I believe you have everything in hand,' Harold hid his amusement behind a neutral mask. 'Mr Peter's and his team should have the document drawn up by the time you return from your shopping trip. Mrs Rawson, my Para-legal is pregnant with her third child. I'm sure she can point you in the direction of the nearest baby shop and give you a list of the items you'll urgently need. Perhaps you'd like to place that call, Ms Jockavic,' he suggested, pointing to the phone on his desk.

Nodding numbly, the shocked social worker wondered how she so misread the situation. After nine years on the job, she should've learnt not to judge, no matter how rumpled and tired the couple looked. _I just feel like I'm missing something on this case_, she rationalised, taking her cell out of her pocket and hitting five on the speed dial.

Half an hour later, Mulder had his panic face well and truly stuck to his features. Scully, pushing an industrial sized trolley, had cornered a mature assistant called Jane. Asking a million questions, she'd finally decided on a car seat for Sophia, the second most expensive model in the store. Jane extolled the safety features then clapped her hand with joy when she realised they needed to order two more for the twins. Taking them down to the pram section, Jane demonstrated the only item she believed would fit their needs. A twin model capable of taking safety capsules for the babies and later seats as the boys grew. An optional toddler seat module could be mounted on the front for Sophia giving all three children a view. Scully placed it, two baby capsules and the toddler seat on order before adding an inexpensive stroller to the trolley.

'Do you want to carry Sophia everywhere,' Scully asked Mulder in _**a don't mess with me**_ tone. He shook his head in response and continued to follow directly behind the two women.

Hoping they could go soon, Jane led them to yet another section. Before he could get involved with choosing nursery furniture for a house they didn't have, Mulder's cell phone rang. He thanked his good luck at the interruption.

'Mulder,' he stated in a relieved voice, earning him a look for Scully. 'Harold,' he mouthed. Still listening, Dana sighed heavily before signalling for him to return to the Judges office and collect the document giving them custody of their children. She'd wait for him to return. Leaning down, he kissed her fully on the lips, before fleeing the building.

Shaking her head, Scully once again took her time to make her choices. A white crib with waterproof mattress and matching changed table, three sets of pink sheets, a bright mobile, four boxes of girls' dippers in various sizes and finally a high chair, added to the order but, Jane promised, delivered to Scully apartment between six and seven pm this evening.

On hold, until the boys came home, Scully added a cradle large enough for them to share for at least a few months. Bedding, sleeping bags, clothing, bibs, hats, bottles, a steriliser and four boxes of boy's dippers completed her purchases. Once the children were settled, Scully realised this would only form the most essential of equipment they'd need. She couldn't wait to see Mulder's face when she suggested they'd need another shopping trip.

Finally she located a dipper bag. Filling it with a small pack of dippers, cream, wipes, several sachets of formula, two different kinds of cups suitable for an eleven month old, a couple of jars of baby food plus a spoon, the bludging bag made it onto the trolley for immediate purchase. Adding several sets of clothing for both Sophia and the twins, Scully placed two outfits for each child in the bag, the rest could be delivered.

'Anything else you'd like to look at,' Jane asked.

'No, err, yes, toys,' Scully couldn't believe she'd almost forgotten something to amuse Sophia. Selecting a colourful and portable activity centre and a chew toy on a chain, both attached easily to the pram and car seat. Jane talked Dana into several more purchases, all to accompany this evening delivery.

Finally happy, Scully dutifully wrote a check out for the total. I'd just about cleared out her account until the next payday. Mulder would have to foot the bill for anything else they needed, until she could get to the bank and transfer some of her savings.


	7. Chapter 7

With the court writ from Harold Macomb safety stowed in her bag, Scully glared at Mother Superior. Gaining temporary custody of their biological offspring hadn't been difficult with Mulder's previous connection to the Judge. Taking Sophia from this woman might prove challenging if the look she sent them counted for anything.

'Miss Scully,' the old, weather beaten nun continued.

'Dr Scully,' Dana corrected easily, fast losing patience with the woman's stubborn stalling tactics. 'Mother, I understand your concerns. Mulder and I have them too. However, this child, Sophia, had been effectively stolen from us. We did not abandon our daughter. Judge Macomb agrees a great injustice has been done, to all parties involved. We're not here to ask for your permission to take Sophia into our care. I'm telling you as a courtesy so we can clear up any remaining paper work before visiting our son's at Georgetown Hospital.'

'I see,' Mother Mary-Therese glared at the couple before her. A look at Scully's left hand didn't make any difference to her opinion. This behaviour, designed to infuriate, gaged the commitment of the pair. Dr Dana Scully had passed, her partner, Mother Superior withheld her judgement. 'Nothing to say Mr Mulder,' she challenged.

'I learnt a long time ago,' he watched the interaction, accepting the psychology behind it, 'not to come between a lioness and her cubs.'

'Indeed,' Mother Superior re-examined the man. Not one to make mistakes often, she admitted to an error in judgement this time. She'd mistaken the quiet stillness, the gentle touch at the base of his partner's spine as disinterest. Carefully reconsidering the body language, Mother Mary-Therese discovered it to be a display of unity and strength. 'If you'd like to follow me, Dr Scully, Mr Mulder, I'll take you to the assistant in charge of the infants after you've signed the official release for the child.'

As they entered the infants section, Scully sucked in a breath. A Nightingale ward greeted her. Ten old fashioned, metal cribs lined each wall. A long, narrow window above an equally old metal chest between each bed defined the child's personal space. Undoubtedly the small storage cupboard held all the orphans worldly possessions.

'We've stepped back in time about a hundred years,' Mulder whispered into her ear. Barely perceptible, Scully nodded her agreement. If she thought too hard about the conditions Sophia had been forced to endure, the tears held under tight control would fall. She just wanted to take her child and get out of this depressing place.

A small body sat, statue still in the corner of the fourth crib on the left side. One look, even at this distance and Scully recognised her biological offspring. The gentle pressure at the base of her spine ensuring Mulder's mind mirrored hers. Guiding her with a determination he normally only showed an X-file, Dana hurried toward her daughter.

Big hazel eye's looked up to the new comers. The colour a shade greener than Mulder's, Sophia's bone structure resembled Scully's, except the nose. Mulder had undoubtedly contributed that. What little hair the child had shone in the afternoon light. Brown, a shade lighter than her father's because Dana's red colouring had made an appearance.

The assistant escorting them made quick work of the side railing, sliding it down. She reached in to pick Sophia up. Immediately the child cringed, moved further into the corner, lips quivered and her eye's watched suspiciously. Mulder's arm shot out, forcing the aid to take a step back.

'Sir,' she demanded in a heavy handed tone, one generally obeyed, 'she has a dirty dipper after her sleep.'

'I think my nose is telling me that,' he stated in a tone Scully knew only too well. Fox William Mulder didn't get angry very often, but the woman standing beside him pushed his buttons. Out of respect for the frightened child, not quite deciding if she should scream in distress, he kept his tone level. 'Our daughter has a name, please use it. When Sophia decides she trusts me, she let her daddy change her dipper. Until then, don't let Scully and I keep you from your other duties.'

Huffing under her breath, the woman walked away without a backward glance. Scully suspected she knew nothing of Sophia, her history or the fact that they hadn't abandoned their child. Above the crib, the name plate read Unknown. Feeling relieved the hostile woman left, Scully turned to get on with the job of bonding with their daughter. Mulder shocked her, producing a six inch Disney Tigger® with a spring for a tail from his trench coat pocket.

'Picked it up at the baby store,' he smiled, keeping his tone light and gaze intently on his daughter. What happened next left Scully dumbfounded.

'Tigger can bounce and bounce and bounce,' Mulder sang in an amazing baritone, punctuating each "bounce" with an action form the toy. He continued repeating the phrase until the bright orange animal reached ten inches from Sophia.

Her eye's filled with surprise. The trembling lips ever so slowly tightened into an expression of wonder. A hand reached out to take the toy only it remained just beyond her reach. Afraid to move closer, although she wanted the object, her posture bent ever so slightly. Noticing this, Mulder moved Tigger two inches towards their daughter. Instantly the wariness returned.

'Sophia,' Mulder spoke gently, 'Tigger is a very special tiger. He's lost his mommy and daddy and can't find them. He's looking for someone very special to take care of him. Do you think you could love him and look after him?'

Taking each word, the child might not understand everything Mulder said, but his tone implied trust and devotion. She got the intent, the love and need seeping through the words. Accepting, Sophia moved suddenly. Bending herself into a crawling position, she made her way to Tigger and Mulder's outstretched hand. Shyly, she took the animal, holding it tightly against her body before creeping close to her father.

'Can daddy change that smelly dipper now?' Mulder asked, his eyes locked with his daughters.

Sophia shook her head. Trying to hide his disappointment, a radiant smile broke out on Mulder's face when the child stole into his arms, demanding safe haven. Giving her several minutes, holding her tightly against his chest, he finally lowered Sophia back on the mattress, his arms still around her.

The moment, so emotionally charged, Scully found it almost impossible not to break down. Sensing this wouldn't help either Sophia or Mulder, she found something to do. Moving with painful slowness, Scully pulled the items Mulder would need to change the child's sodden dipper. Placing them within easy reach, she stepped into Mulder's personal space, watching the bonding between father and daughter with amazement. Believing Mulder capable of this level of devotion and witnessing it, Scully realised, were two completely different things.

'Daddy needs to make you more comfortable, baby,' he cooed, undressing her, 'and the only way I can do that is to get rid of this nasty thing.' The dipper removed, Mulder reached for something to his right, surprised when he found it. Watching him, Scully couldn't decide whether he'd actually performed this act in his past or just went with instinct. His first attempt almost perfect, Mulder wore a satisfied grin.

'Does mommy have something nice for her special girl to wear in that great big bag,' Mulder asked, keeping his attention focused on Sophia. 'Daddy doesn't think much of this.'

The once white garment had seen better days. A size to big and grey with constant washing, Scully picked it up only to deposit as far away as possible. A pink long sleeved undershirt, white overalls with applique pink flowers on the bib and legs, a matching set of socks with frilly lace tops and pink shoes made their way onto Sophia. In her hand, Scully held the Pink hat with delicate white and purple embroidery and the matching overcoat for the trip into the wintery weather outside the orphanage.

'Mulder,' Scully sounded as astounded as she looked.

'Developmental Child Psychology 101, Scully,' he returned, lowering his head to Sophia's stomach and blowing a raspberry before buttoning up her undershirt. The child giggled for the first time while he'd made short work of the clothing, his hands gentle but firm. Each time Mulder added another item, he tickled Sophia, much to her increasing delight. 'That and we were required to become involved with community projects. I did a semester at a group home for infants in Oxford.'

'Maybe you should be the stay at home parent,' Scully quipped, amazed at the ease of Mulder's movements.

'The boys are going to need you more than me,' he stated, picking his daughter up. Sophia, deciding this to be a safe place, snuggled into Mulder's neck, throwing her arms around him. Burying her head, she shyly peeked over the top of her father's shoulder, only to frown at her surroundings. 'That way daddy gets to bond with his little girl when mommy busy with your brothers. Shall we get out of here?'

A string of sounds from Sophia appeared to be agreement. Scully didn't think she'd ever heard anything so perfect. Mulder, clutching his daughter in one hand, slung the other around his fiancée's shoulders. The family moved toward the door and freedom without ascertaining if the carers had taken the time to investigate the child's history beyond her genetics. Scully suspected Mother Superior and her assistants discovered Sophia's true name and past with the court writ.

'Can I,' swallowing deeply, the baby on the left called out to her mothering instincts. He seemed to struggle against his heavier, healthier brother who slept contentedly in his bassinet. 'Can I hold William,' the name escaped before Scully realised she named Twin Two.

'I'm sorry,' the nurse shook her head, 'his temperature is too low to remove from the incubator at the moment. I'll open the window so you can rest your hand beside your son.'

The nurse observing the other twin carefully wrapped him in a white blanket. Making sure the infants hat sat firmly on his tiny head, she passed the child to Scully. Taking him with a sense of awe, Dana gazed down into eyes the same colour as hers.

_I wonder if he'll keep these eyes, or they'll change to the same colour as Mulder's_. Scully hoped they'd remain blue, then he might be a perfect combination of both his parents. Thick thatches of brown hair graced the crowns of the twins. Both demonstrated Mulder's unique nose.

'I think this little boy needs his mother,' the nurse commented easily, directing Scully to the chair between the hospital bassinets. A look passed between the colleagues caring for the twins, over Scully head. Dr Matheson took them aside to explain the tragedy surrounding their young patients. This couple, finally seeing their children for the first time, acted as if they'd just been given the world. 'You hold him while I go and get his bottle. We managed to get his sucking response working this morning. If he does well with this feed, the neonatologist is considering taking out his nasogastric tube. It won't be long before you and your husband can take this little one home.'

'What are we going to name him, Scully,' Mulder asked. He still held Sophia in his arms. The little girl clutched him tightly, afraid in case this source of comfort disappeared. She'd screamed blue murder when Scully removed her from the car seat, intent on placing her into the stroller for easy mobility. Only Mulder's embrace managed to settle the child. The black bags under her almost green eyes demonstrated her fatigue. Unquestionably built from the events of the last week, Sophia needed sleep and plenty of it.

Razing one eye, Scully teased, 'wouldn't you like a namesake, Fox?'

'Scully,' Mulder returned, amusement tempered with irony 'we're not officially married yet and you're talking grounds for divorce.'

'No would've been sufficient,' she returned, the grin demonstrating her humour.

Her attention returned to the child comfortably settled in her lap. She didn't need to tell Mulder how this felt, to hold her new born son, to be able to cuddle him in her arms. Arms that ached since the day she'd been told this would be impossible. Dana Scully's expression conveyed all she couldn't.

'Dana's a boy's name as well as a girl's,' Mulder returned, 'wouldn't you like a namesake, Scully?'

The nurses' exchanged a look as the pair continued their playful banter. A warmed bottle with a tiny amount of expressed breast milk found its way into Scully's hand, then to her son's mouth. He sucked greedily. 'No problem there,' the nurse quipped, leaving the new mother alone with her family.

'What's good for the goose is good for the gander, or the other way around,' Scully answered, happy with her bottle feeding technique.

'I like William,' Mulder said, 'it respects the memory of both our fathers,' the statement came out bland. Scully knew the hurt behind the words. Mulder agreed because of the bond she'd shared with her father, not for the memories of his. 'Any ideas for the little man your holding,' Mulder changed the subject.

'Michael,' Scully asked hopefully, not really sure she like the name.

'Mike or Mickey,' the sarcasm returned.

'Point taken,' Scully agreed, 'Charles? No, too old fashioned and I'd hate my son to be called Chuck.'

'Caleb,' Mulder came up with the suggestion. 'It's biblical, Hebrew actually and means faith or devotion. From where I'm standing, he looks devoted to you right now.'

Once again holding teas at bay, this sensitive side of Mulder, a side she didn't see much, reminded Scully of the depth of her love for him. A quick glance, hazel and blue melding together, she knew Mulder felt the same way. Sometimes they didn't need words to express their feeling towards each other.

Returning her attention to Caleb, Scully accepted Mulder's choice. 'What does Sophia mean?' she asked.

'I know this one,' a nurse several bays over smiled politely. 'My husband's Greek, so is the name and it means wisdom.'

'Feel better about the name now, Sully,' Mulder teased. The slight way her nose wrinkled as Ms Jockavic said her daughter's name, told Mulder how she felt.

The eyebrow rose fractionally. 'So we have a wise one, a devoted one and a protector,' Scully considered, still not overly enamoured by Sophia's name. They'd discussed changing it, Mulder arguing their daughter had lost so much of her identity, she should be allowed to keep it. Begrudgingly, Scully accepted his logic. 'Great combination, Mulder,' she couldn't keep the irony out of her tone.

'I'd say these little apples don't fall far from the parental tree,' he quipped. 'Your name means judge, Scully, you might just need that quality razing three children who'll all attend school in the same year group.'

'I hadn't thought about that,' Scully paled. Another mental list started in her mind, this one labelled Schooling. They'd need to place the children's names on waiting lists for institutions of academic excellence. With Mulder and Scully genetics, it'd be a forgone conclusion that all three would be at least as intelligent and driven as their parents.

* * *

><p>I actually wanted Mulder to look like a bumbling fool with the kids (changing Sophia dipper) and have Sophia bond instantly with Scully. As you can see, neither father nor daughter allowed that. I have no idea where the Tigger scene came from, or the fact Mulder could actually sing. I guess so much of Mulder remains well hidden in the series, like his wanting to live in a quite country town.<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

'Hello,' Maggie reluctantly answered the phone.

Her handbag slung over her shoulder, Margaret Scully prepared to leave her daughters apartment. Hoping Dana would call her again, Maggie needed more details about the children and wedding. _We have so much to organise in a short time period_, Maggie lamented. The seven o'clock call had forced her into action. Forgetting the time difference, Mrs Scully woke both her son's families in the wee hours of the morning with the news.

Bill and Charles rang in the hour before Dana's excited call to announce custody of the children. While she delivered plans for the day, Maggie forgot to mention the arrival of the rest of the family for the weekend. Somehow both boys managed emergency leave and would be flying out Thursday with their families. Maggie had to make her home ready for the invasion while helping her daughter cope with three children and Fox.

Father McCue found an open slot Friday afternoon, the only time that weekend he could marry Dana. He'd grumbled about the haste and Mulder's Jewish background. A quick insight from Maggie solved that problem. Dana barely hung up when Maggie's plans hit a snag. A Virginia licence meant a marriage ceremony in Virginia. Father McCue needed to check with that diocese to ensure he could legally preform the wedding. She still hadn't heard from him but hoped this call might solve this problem.

'Dr Scully,' the warm tones washed down the line forcing Margaret's attention back to the caller. His voice sent a tingle of awareness down her spine and the fine hair at her nape to stand up. William Scully had been the only other person who'd ever affected her in this fashion.

'I'm sorry, my daughter's unavailable at the moment,' Maggie answered automatically, now wishing she let the call go to the machine. She still had so much to achieve before Dana and Fox brought Sophia home from visiting her brothers at the hospital. Already a lasagne and salad fixings for the evening meal lay in Dana's fridge. Several meals and finger foods suitable for Sophia inhabited the freezer. Intending to pick up a few presents for her newly discovered grandchildren, Maggie planned to spoil them rotten. Recalling the reason for the receiver in her hand, she managed, 'would you care to leave a message?'

'Am I speaking with Mrs Maggie Scully,' a slight smile infused the voice, hinting at humour. The tone old fashioned with just a hint of a New England accent.

'Yes,' Margaret wondered if she knew this man. His familiarity with her unexpected, she couldn't place him. _Perhaps I've met him in association with my husband. That could explain my reaction_, Maggie attempted to console. 'May I ask whose calling?'

'Federal Court Judge Harold Macomb,' he paused, allowing her to make the links.

'Oh,' she managed, 'Dana mentioned her appointment with you this morning.'

'Maggie,' Harold couldn't hold his mirth, 'your future son-in-law is very dear to me. Dana and Mulder are shopping for their children as we speak. Mulder seemed delighted to return for the paperwork and let your daughter loose in the store.'

A laugh escaped Margaret at the mental picture of a man picking out children's furniture and apparel. She could see the panicked look on Fox's face while Dana reprimanded him with a look. 'I'm sure my daughter is enjoying the experience. She's always wanted a family.'

'I'd like to help with the situation they find themselves in,' Harold turned serious. He'd given Katherine permission to have a lavish wedding, with anything she wanted, anything in his power to give. His influence stretched further than Mulder realised. Harold had connections within connections within the highest ranks of the government, public and concealed. His only living relative chose small and intimate. It seemed the man he considered the closest thing to a son preferred his women unassuming, unpretentious and restrained. 'This morning Mulder informed me you're arranging his wedding for this weekend. Dana extended an invitation. I had hoped to fulfil the responsibilities of the groom's father, wether Mulder wants me to or not.'

'If I could get my daughter to sit down long enough,' Maggie complained sensing a kindred spirit, 'I might be able to start making arrangements.'

'I have several ideas,' Harold offered, 'perhaps you and your husband would care to join me for a coffee so we can discuss them.'

'My husband lived for the day his daughter married,' a sad note entered Maggie's voice, 'however he passed away almost five years ago.'

'I'm sorry,' Harold softened his voice in consolation. He didn't sound grieved in the least.

Taking a moment to realise this man's could be very alluring, that she found his voice seductive, Maggie suddenly blurted 'are you flirting with me?'

'If you bare even the slightest resemblance to your daughter,' the mirth returned allowing Harold to let out a chuckle, 'then I believe I am.'

'I can't remember the last time a man flirted with me,' Maggie sounded dazed.

Taking in a sharp breath and the rapid beat of her heart, she decided why not. Margret Scully had felt alone and lonely for some time now. She'd discussed moving on with her priest. The feeling of guilt it generated had so far stoped her from taking up any of the offers which came her way. Father McCue said god would present her with the circumstances, she have to decide if she wanted to take them. Take it she did, replying, 'when would you like to meet to discuss Fox and Dana's nuptials?'

The chuckle had nothing on the full bodied laugh escaping Harold's lips. 'I can make myself available in twenty minutes,' he returned, 'there's a concession stand by the Potomac, not far from Georgetown and the Watergate complex.'

'I know it,' Maggie felt she sounded like a thirteen year old, about to go on her first date.

'I'll meet you there in half an hour,' Harold's resonate voice broke into her pleasant thoughts. 'Once this situation is sorted, Maggie, perhaps we can think about making a date for dinner.'

'I believe I'd like that,' she smiled, replacing the instrument in its cradle.

* * *

><p>Scully continued her vigil, torn between hovering over William's humidicrib and holding Caleb in her arms. A worried look passed between the two Neonatal Intensive care nurses. Helen, caring for William Mulder finally gained the courage to say, 'Ms Scully, no matter how long you wait your son's body temperature won't allow you to hold him on this visit. Why don't you take you daughter home? After everything she's been through this last week it's no wonder Sophia's and your…err…partner have fallen asleep.'<p>

Wanting to argue, Scully looked over to Mulder. They'd arrived a little after one thirty, tired and bedraggled. Sophia still firmly attached to her father's chest began to fuss. Wendy, Caleb's nurse, recognised the child's hunger and arranged a meal for Sophia and managed to rustle something up for her parents. Watching with amusement, Sophia managed to cover both herself and her father in apple, pear, pumpkin and rice. Shrugging, Mulder took the food bath with good grace. Feeling sated and safe, eyes growing heavy, she finally succumb too much needed sleep.

Mulder joined his slumbering daughter in one of the hospitals uncomfortable visitors' chairs. Recovering from his high seas adventure and a night retrieving evidence, he looked just as washed out as the infant snoring softly on his chest. Her heart broke at the sight of her partner, usually a dynamic ball of furious energy protectively holding the tiny child in his arms. Caleb, asleep in her arms, stirred, yawned and let out a howl. Instinctively, Scully felt his dipper and knew it needed changing. Meaning another feed soon.

'We have to be home by six. The Baby Store is delving Sophia's crib,' Scully mourned, looking at the clock and deciding they could extend it another twenty minutes before attempting the drive. Pushing herself out of the chair, Dana placed her precious bundle in his cradle. Undressing him, she attempted his second dipper change. 'I'd like to give Caleb a bottle before we go. Please call me if there's any changed in William's condition overnight.'

'I'll check to make sure we have your correct details,' Helen opened William's file while her colleague went to fetch the bottle.

Burped and settled, Scully kissed her son goodnight. She'd dressed him in a set of the new clothes, making her feel he belonged to them. Now swaddled in a new blue and white blanket, Caleb appeared different from the other babies in the room. He looked loved and cared for by his parents.

William remained beneath his meniscal sized bear hugger, lost and lonely. His nurse allowed a similar rug to Caleb's, in yellow and blue, to disguise the foil covering providing him with life giving heat. The only item of clothing able to fit his tiny body, a yellow hat, graced his head, personalizing the tiny scrap of humanity as the second son of Mulder and Scully. Both babies sported their new names on the end of their basinets. It made Scully heart sing, thinking she soon carry the same surname as her children.

Mulder woke, startled by Sophia's angry cry. Thinking she could move the sleepy child into her arms without disturbing him, Sophia had other ideas. The moment Dana touched her daughter, a terrified look entered her startled, almost green eyes. Mulder gave Scully a look of disgust, as though she should have known better. Scooping up the little girl, he replaced her on his hip offering soothing words until her cries stopped.

'I gather we're finally leaving,' although furious, Mulder's tone remained light, in diffidence to Sophia who'd once again burrowed her head into his shoulder.

A tight smile covered Scully features. While she felt just a tired as Mulder, she'd attempted to move Sophia to give him a break, have time to bond with her daughter and give Mulder the opportunity to hold his son. 'I think getting between the lion and his cub might be more dangerous than facing the lioness in this family,' she stated, ensuring any emotion didn't make it into her words.

'Touché, Scully,' Mulder rewarded her with a tired smile, the anger and frustration falling away from him. 'Let me say good bye to the boys and we'll go home.'

Clearing her throat, Wendy held up a strange looking contraption in each hand. 'If I could suggest,' she looked slightly embarrassed, 'your daughter obviously feels very safe with you Mr Mulder. Maybe you could put your partner's jacket on backwards, Ms Scully. That way Sophia will become comfortable with your combined body odours.'

A tight smile graced Scully's face. _I should have thought of that_, she berated picking up Mulder's discarded jacket and donning it as Wendy suggested. Taking the Baby Born harness, she strapped the contraption easily to her chest. Removing Sophia out of Mulder's arms and securing her took some doing. Letting the adults know about her distress, the smile on Scully's face turned into a happy grin as her cries grew feeble.

'Charlie's boys and Matthew loved their carriers,' Scully placed her arms, clocked in Mulder's distinctive body odour, around her daughter for the first time. A curious expression, unsure why this woman smelt like her safe haven but looked different, Sophia took her time to make up her mind. Hands crept slowly up the dark jacket. The texture familiar, she decided to cuddle into the warmth. Red hair tickled her face, Sophia grabbed a handful and yanked. Taking the strand between her fingers, Scully whispered, 'Ouch, that hurts Mommy, baby-girl.'

Startled eye's turned towards the soft voice, mesmerised. Her little face worked furiously, alternating between fear and fascination. The later finally won out as Sophia's touch gentled. Stroking the soft shiny strands, she sighed deeply, burying her head into Scully shoulder.

'I don't know why I didn't think about this earlier,' Scully looked up into Mulder's expressive features. He'd watched the scene, enthralled and captivated. 'We'll have to add a carrier to our list.'

'I've got a sling here,' Wendy spoke, not wanting to break the moment, 'they've both been donated by families, so when you decide which suits you better, just bring them back.'

Nodding, Scully pushed Mulder towards Caleb's crib. He looked at the tiny child, afraid to touch him. A tentative hand reached out, before Mulder pulled it back. A sad smile made its way to Scully face. She didn't need to see the expression in her Fiancée's orbs to understand his distress. Bill Mulder hadn't set a good example for his son to follow. The thought of his children, his son's caused confusion and anxiety.

Sensing the momentous occasion, reassured by this man's attention to his daughter, Wendy easily scooped the child up and deposited him into his father's embrace. The wonderment, the spellbound fascination captivated Mulder. Turing to his partner, he needed to say the words, communicating with his eye locked on Scully wasn't enough.

'I have a son, Dana,' he choked out, the use of her first name giving away the depth of his emotional turmoil.

'Two,' Scully returned, tears streaming down her face, 'and you're going to be the best father our boys could ever want.'

'Caleb,' Mulder turned his attention to the child in his arms, 'did you hear what your mommy said? I've known her for years and she's always right. I'm going to be the best father you and your brother could ever want.'

'Mulder,' Scully whispered from his elbow, a hand snaking around his waist.

'Caleb Fox Mulder,' the awe in his voice, the recognition of his child being part of himself, thrilled Fox William Mulder. 'You're brother has my middle name, I want you to have something of mine too.'

As if agreeing, Caleb opened his starting blue eyes and looked deep into his father's enraptured gaze. Hypnotised, Mulder brought his son's head to lips and kissed him on the forehead. For the first time in his life, everything took second place to his, to holing his child, his son, his namesake.

_What a difference twenty four hours can make_, Scully's soft blue eyes said when Mulder turned to look at her. Mulder realised he had everything he'd ever wanted, right here before him.


	9. Chapter 9

Authors Note: I've completely stuffed up the timeline on this one. Mulder and Scully couldn't have come back from Florida to 4 inches of snow in late November 1998 (the show's original air date and the fifth warmest winter on record for D.C.). So, Triangle is now set in January 1999 after The Ghost Who Stole Christmas. Dreamland could have occurred before this, who knows as Mulder and Scully don't remember it anyway.

* * *

><p><em>I have to remember to add ten extra minutes every time I want to get a child into the car<em>, Scully scolded internally, _especially a fractious Sophia who doesn't want to get out of her carrier or into her seat_.

The hungry eleven month old didn't want to co-operate. Now she'd had enough sleep to recharge her batteries, Sophia no longer intended to be constrained. Howling loud enough to attract attention from passers-by, Scully's fatigue began to show in her jerky movements and the determined expression on her face. Mulder knew better than to offer help so he stood at her side, shielding his partner from the glares. His efforts to quieten his daughter failed dismally, until he remembered the baby snacks in the dipper bag. She fell on them like a plague of locust. Happily munching, the adults finally managed to strap themselves into the car, heaving a grateful sigh.

Not accounting for the extra time, the journey from Georgetown University Hospital to Scully's apartment in the same suburb took almost twenty minutes. They made it home just as the Baby Store truck pulled away from the loading bay in front of the building. Cursing under her breath, Scully pulled her cell phone out to call store.

Laying a hand on Scully's forearm, Mulder pointed to a gold ford parked several spaces in front of them. 'Isn't that your mom's car,' he commented, recognising Maggie's vehicle.

'Yes,' his companion snapped the phone closed, 'thank god. How would we get Sophia to sleep tonight, or changed her dipper. I only have three more in the bag.'

'Scully,' moving his hand from its resting place on her arm, Mulder took hold of her chin. Pulling her face around to his, he dropped a searing kiss on her open lips. She'd been about to protest. Mulder took the opportunity to deepen the contact. His tongue stole into Scully mouth, tangling with its counterpart. Initially she tried to stop her natural response, to hold back, to be angry at the intrusion. Passion and desire took over as her body responded. Before they could both go up in flames and give the neighbourhood a display of affection that had built over the last seven years, Mulder called a halt. Slowly he drew away, cursing himself for starting this in the open. Moving back to his seat, adjusting his trousers as discreetly as possible, he chanced a look at Scully. Amazement shone from her eyes, causing his face to split with an elated smile at the effect he'd invoked.

'What was that for,' Scully croaked out past lips as dry as the desert. Fingers, of their own accord, stole towards her mouth, ensuring it remained intact.

'We're engaged,' Mulder teased, taking her hand into his. Covering her palm and entwining their fingers, his expression turned serious. Mulder needed to explain his feelings, feelings he'd only discovered today when he held his tiny son in his embrace. 'I wanted to remind you that whatever happens now, we'll get through it together. We've always handled everything as two parts of the same whole, Scully. It's what makes our partnership so strong and enduring. It will be the glue that cements our marriage and formation of a family unit.'

'Holding that baby today,' he demanded her full and undivided attention, 'I realised something. Here,' Mulder taped the centre of her chest with his free hand, 'not just here,' moving his hand up to rest it on her red hair, 'those children are mine. Mine to mould, to teach, to love, they are and always will be a part of me. No one can take that away no matter how many mistakes I make and I know I'll make them. We both will its part of being a parent.'

'You said I'd be the best father they could ever want,' Mulder recalled, his expression filled with reverence and wonder. He entered a different life from the one he normally lived, from the one he'd become devoted too. Perhaps this new life, the one Mulder secretly wished for, sought deep in his soul to compensate for his awful childhood. 'It made me realise I'm responsible for them. Me. I'm solely accountable for William and Caleb's creation. Who carried them isn't important. Who turned them from a single cell into the little boy's I can hold in my arms doesn't matter. The very basis of their being comes from me.'

Smiling, his embarrassment at the sentiment shone from his mobile face, 'and you, Scully, I couldn't have done it without you at my side. You've been my rock for longer than I care to remember. You balance me. In my wildest dreams, I'd only ever want you to share the conception these children. We can't escape the fact that we're a family, Dana. You, Sophia, Caleb, William, you're the only family I have left and the only family I need because all of you complete me.'

He wanted to say more, she could see it in his eyes. Holding Caleb had been a watershed moment in Mulder's life, one he wanted to share with her. Sophia chose that instant to alert her parents to her presence and the fact she too came from the combination of their genes. A tired smile lit both Mulder and Scully's exhausted faces.

'We'll continue this another time, Scully,' Mulder leaned in for another quick, passion packed kiss before reaching for the door handle. 'I'll get Sophia out. You go and fill your mother in.'

'Afraid to face my mom, Mulder,' Scully returned, eyebrow raised but her tone teased.

_You bet_, he silently agreed watching Scully's mincing steps on the slippery sidewalk.

'I'm glad you finally made it home,' Maggie called from her position before the window facing onto the street. She'd watched the scene in the car with growing pleasure. The sexual tension between her daughter and her partner continued to increase with the time they spent together. This year something had happened Christmas eve. Dana turned up late to lunch toting Mulder in her wake. He'd finally accepted an invitation to a family function. Maggie hadn't asked why and managed to keep the rest of her family from making enquiries.

New year's found Dana and Fox at her family gathering. If anything, the atmosphere between them became thick enough to cut with a very blunt knife. Finally, this incident forced them to confront their feeling for each other and expunged their fears and insecurities. Maggie couldn't have been happier. She always sensed the unspoken feelings between them.

'I had Sophia's furniture placed in the spare room,' she explained. 'The men were good enough to disassemble and pack up your spare bed. It's leaning against the wall.'

'We are going to need a bigger place to live,' Scully commented, wondering how her mother managed to arrange the furniture in a way that'd allow movement in the smallest room in her home. 'Although I don't know when we're going to find the time.'

Continuing to watch the scene outside the picture window, Maggie clapped her hands with glee. A pink and white bundle in Fox's arms struggled as he negotiated the icy walkway. 'Mm,' Maggie answered, only to be greeted by her daughter's delighted laughter.

Scully stood behind her mother, observing her Fiancée attempting to handle the other woman in his life. 'You'll meet her in a minute, Mom,' Dana gushed with happiness, 'she'd adorable. Sophia's going to be hard work because she's displaying signs of separation anxiety. She's already attached to Mulder, it's going to take me longer to gain her trust. We're taking the week off to settle her and make all the arrangements needed to keep the children in our care. I'll go in to work on Thursday or Friday to officially apply for maternity leave. Caleb should be home by the weekend but it might take longer for William to be discharged. He's so tiny, just over five pounds. Our son needed another five ounces to maintain his body temperature. Once he can do that, we can bring William home too.'

'I'm glad you're taking time off,' Maggie responded, 'what about Fox?'

'Mulder's got eleven weeks leave due,' Scully informed her mother as Mulder disappeared from their view. 'We may have a fight on our hand to officially changed the birth certificate, so I'd like him to keep at least a couple of weeks, just in case the worst should happen. I think Mulder would be more devastated than me if the children were taken from us. I believe he's finally realised how much he's give up for his quest.'

'I have to say, he looks very comfortable with Sophia,' Maggie agreed, making her way into the kitchen. Looking up to the clock, she turned the oven on and slipped the lasagne into the rack.

'You should have seen him at the hospital with Caleb,' Scully didn't attempt to keep the proud tone from her voice. 'He's so good with children and the boys aren't identical which I'm grateful for. We've named them, William Charles and Caleb Fox Mulder. I'm hoping you can come and visit them at the hospital tomorrow.'

'Just you try and keep me away,' Maggie growled, pulling the salad vegetables out of the fridge. Stars in her eyes, Dana didn't make an effort to help, allowing Maggie to gage her daughter's level of happiness.

'Did you call Bill and Charlie,' Scully asked, worried at the response from her eldest brother under the circumstances.

'We'll talk about it later,' Maggie hedged, thankful Fox came through the door at that moment. Bill's initial reaction didn't bear repeating. Charlie's, although not as forceful contained the same content. 'Let me hold my newest granddaughter,' she enthused.

'Not a great idea, Mrs Scully,' Mulder commented, managing to remove the cold weather jacket as the wriggly child slipped to the floor. She made short work of the irritating shoes and socks. Crawling at the speed of light, she spied the packages on the couch.

'No you don't young lady,' Maggie scooped up the child, taking her to further into the living room and depositing her before a pile of new toys in the corner surrounded by a playpen. Sophia didn't get a chance to challenge the unfamiliar adult before becoming engrossed in the bright colours and sounds Maggie set off. Holding her Tigger tightly under her arm, she shyly reached out to the music centre, completely absorbed for the moment.

'I've invited Harold to join us for dinner,' Maggie stated, a determined look entering her eye, 'and I'm going to be your mother-in-law soon, Fox. You can call me Maggie or Mom, which ever you prefer.'

Suitably chastised, Mulder shrugged his shoulders and said 'yes, mom.'

'I hope you don't mind, Dana, but I brought the children some presents,' Margaret's words were accompanied by a pained look from Scully who realised how much her mother missed Bill and Charlies children in her daily life. 'Sophia's new baby bath is inside the tub ready for you to give her a soak after her evening meal. There's a pair of pyjamas I just couldn't resist and a new baby towel on the vanity. I hope she doesn't have any allergies, I brought a well know brand of bubble bath and the matching oil.'

'Maggie,' Mulder inserted, wondering how much more one little girl could possibly need, 'remind me never to let you and my future wife loose in a baby store. Scully cleaned out her bank account this afternoon. I hate to think what the pair of you could do.'

Ignoring the man, Maggie asked in seriousness, 'does he really believe this is all you'll need for three children. By the way, Sophia's dinner's in the microwave when she's ready and I've set her highchair up in the kitchen.'

'Mulder learns fast, Mom,' Scully grinned taking Sophia and Mulder's jackets and hanging them in the amore by the door, 'by the time we move into a bigger place, he'll understand what it takes. Oh, and I want to know how Harold got invited to dinner?'

'He called looking for you,' Maggie began to explain. Opening a bottle of wine, she poured three glasses and handed them around. By unspoken agreement, the adults sat in the living room to watch the delighted little girl play with her toys. Using the time, Margaret Scully explained what she'd managed to achieve in a single day, leaving out the plans she made with Harold. They would be discussed over dinner. When she finished, Maggie's eyebrow rose in much the same manner as her daughters'. 'You have some explaining of your own to do, Fox. Why is it I find out about your first wife from Harold?'

'You're on your own, Mulder,' Scully grinned, picking up her daughter and heading into the kitchen. 'Is someone hungry, baby-girl,' Dana cooed. The word caught her attention and Sophia returned her mother's happy noise. 'I'll take that as a yes.'

Harold arrived an hour later. Mulder and Scully found themselves busy attempting to establish Sophia's new night time routine. She eagerly approached the bath, taking obvious enjoyment from the tepid water and the family of ducks Maggie had forgotten to mention. Howls of protest greeted everyone's ears in the building when Scully finally decided to pull her out. Wriggling and squirming, Mulder's larger grasp and firmer handling finally managed to get her dry, a new dipper on and dressed in Maggie's gift.

After presenting her to their guest, Mulder decided to do the honours and try to get the little cherub to sleep in her new crib. Sophia would have none of it, keeping the tenants on either side "entertained", he finally admitted defeat after half an hour of constant high pitched wails. Returning to the kitchen, Scully silently handed him the baby sling. At his astounded expression, she made him sit, placing it over his head. The strap dissected his back from left shoulder to right hip. Happy with its position, she placed Sophia inside, across his chest, Mulder's shoulder and back taking the child's weight. Finally feeling safe and warm, Sophia took all of two minutes to drift off snuggled against her father's torso.

'I hope you don't think I'm going to let her sleep like this every night,' he mocked, internally happy his little girl trusted him enough to feel safe and protected.

'We'll lay your sweaty t-shit under her bottom sheet before we go to bed,' Scully explained, 'that way she'll smell you and feel secure throughout the night.'

In a moment of shared communication, Mulder asked, _Am I spending the night with you Scully or on the couch?_

_Oh, brother, do I really need to grace that with a reply_, Scully returned.

_Your bed it is then_, Mulder's face broke out in a million watt smile.

'Even I could read that,' Harold muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

'Mom said you called early this afternoon,' Scully turned on the older man, effectively changing the subject.

Chancing a gaze in Maggie's direction, Harold cleared his throat. 'I have an idea and I wanted to run it by you.'

'No,' Mulder's face grew serious. He knew the suggestion Harold would make and it angered him. Marriage to Katherine at Harold's bay side home remained perfect in his memory. To take Scully as his wife in the same location would despoil the image and be unfair to the woman seated beside him. 'We have an appointment with a realtor tomorrow morning.'

'To follow up on the Mulholland's, Mulder,' Scully sounded peeved. She understood the subtext and let her partner know with a look.

'I have information you might require,' Harold offered an olive branch, temporarily moving the conversation to safer subjects. 'They died intestate, with very little to their name. Sally Mulholland amassed quite a tidy sum from her photographic business. However the IVF attempts wiped out most of her savings. Tax returns show she didn't work while under treatment or after Sophia's birth, leaving her business just this side of solvent. Joseph Mulholland worked for the county municipality in the accounts department. His salary barely covered their living expenses.'

'You're implying Dana and Fox can give these children a better lifestyle,' Maggie enquired.

'There is no question Dana and Mulder are in a very advantageous financial, psychological and emotional position to raise these children,' Harold agreed, his voice taking on an Attorney tone. Looking at this purely from a legal aspect, he continued, 'their biological children. Sally Mulholland acted as little more than a surrogate in this transaction, even if she didn't know it.'

'I've spoken to a trusted colleague in the family court. There is one precedent for your case. I've taken the liberty of retaining the council who won the challenge on your behalf. Susan Winters represented a couple whose blastocyst became implanted in the wrong mother, effectively making her a surrogate, like Sally Mulholland. The court ruled in favour of the biological parents, however the clinic admitted culpability and the pregnancy only reached thirteen weeks. The surrogate had the unenviable task of handing over the child at birth. She miscarried due to the stress of the case when the judge handed down his decision.'

'Oh,' Scully found her hand covering her mouth. The emotions running through her brought the sheen of tears to her eyes. Everyone had lost, unlike their case.

'We have proof the IVF clinic is responsible for creating and implanting our DNA into another patient,' Mulder drew the conclusion, 'surely that shows liability on their part and the surrogate in this case is deceased.'

'My Colleague agrees with you and I'm attempting to have him hear the indictment as soon as possible,' Harold confirmed, 'he's sympathetic to your cause and can be persuaded.'

'Wheels within wheels,' Scully hissed pursing her lips, understanding Harold implication. His friend would take her abduction and the conspiracy into consideration unofficially. While Mulder trusted the man implicitly, Dana began to have her doubts about the level of his commitment within the syndicate.

'It's often the way the world works,' Harold agreed, watching Scully expressions with great interest. 'Both you and Mulder have been in the position to understand, it's often who you know, not what you know. Influence is a very powerful political tool.'

Arching an eyebrow, Scully remained silent. Mulder, realising more went on than the surface conversation, remained quiet. The battle of wills finally concluded, Harold came out the victor.

Finally feeling safe, Harold returned to his previous thread of conversation. 'Mulder,' he approached the topic carefully, capturing the younger man's attention, 'it's not the same house. After Katherine passed away, I couldn't abide to enter it. Every time I crossed the threshold of a room I found too many memories.'

'Oh,' Mulder made the action with his mouth but not a sound came out.

'Your licence is for the state of Virginia, so you have to be married in the state your marriage licence is issued. This new house is on the banks of the Potomac just outside the town of Triangle near Quantico. As part of our legal requirements, we needed to investigate you employment. Did you know you've both been reassigned?'

Looking up to Harold with an expression of shock, Mulder shook his head. 'I'm not surprised after the stunt I pulled last week and Scully coming to rescue me.'

'I don't think it has anything to do with that,' Harold's eyes communicated what his words couldn't. 'You're to take up a position in the Behavioural Science Unit after an unspecified leave of absence. Dr Scully will join you in a year, after her maternity leave has expired, teaching at the academy. The house is only a short drive from Quantico and your new positions allow you to work office hours. Of course you need to hear this officially from your current line manager.'

Mulder and Scully chanced a look at each other. They'd spoken about Kersh's easy capitulation this morning when they'd demanded a week's emergency leave. Finding all this far too coincidental, they wondered what forced lay behind the uncomplicated and effortless transition from field agents to happy families. Neither trusted their good fortune, believing it would come back to bit them in the most uncomfortable of places.


	10. Chapter 10

Dinner finished, dishes washed and put away, the adults moved to sit in the living room. Harold lit the fire as they enjoyed the last of the wine. Before Maggie served the main meal, Scully managed to move Sophia into her crib without waking the child. One of Mulder's unwashed running shirts under her sheet, the tiny tot snuggled into the odour. Her Tigger tucked firmly under her arm, the bright orange animal becoming her main comfort object.

'I need to know what you want to do about your wedding,' Maggie demanded from her position on a winged back chair by the fire.

Greeted with a yawn from her daughter, Maggie continued to glare at Dana, demanding an answer. So far both Scully and Mulder had managed to side step the issue while Margaret wanted to get it sorted. They needed made decisions so she could start making plans. Ensconced on the couch beside her fiancée, Margaret worked hard not to show her delight at this new closeness. Mulder's arm casually thrown over the sofa, his hand making contact with Scully's opposite shoulder, drawing light circles on her upper arm.

'Father McCue is holing four o'clock on Friday open,' Maggie reminded, injecting a note of annoyance into her tone. 'You're brothers and their families will arrive Thursday afternoon on the same flight from Los Angeles. They're staying with me over the weekend and returning home on Sunday night. I need some time to organise my home, Dana,' Mrs Scully explained managing to sound irritated by the sudden intrusion. 'It's imperative I know where you intend to hold the ceremony and if you're planning any kind of reception after. Not to mention we only have a few days to organise a guest list and get the invitations out.'

'With everything that's occurred in the last twenty four hours, Maggie,' Mulder offered in consolation, 'Scully and I haven't had a chance to talk about it.'

'No time like the present,' Margaret berated, ogling the pair, 'the next days are going to be very busy for all of us. I understand you want to spend as much time with your children as possible but,' she reprimanded, 'plans need to be made, now, if we're going to pull this off.'

Scully knew that tone. She'd been subjected to it for eighteen years before leaving to attend college. 'Looks very much like we'd better discuss it now,' her right eyebrow rose in the ultimate Scully rebuke.

Turning to his fiancée, Mulder spoke candidly. 'Dana, I don't care where we get married, as long as we do. I don't care who's there, as long as you are. I don't care what arrangements are made, so long as you're happy.'

Nodding her understanding, Dr Dana Scully calmly faced her mother. 'I know I've asked a lot of you in the time frame and I'm grateful to have you doing this for us, mom,' Scully replied in a quiet, appreciative tone. Explaining their plans, Dana said, 'tomorrow I want to see the boys before going to the real estate agent and enquiring about the Mulholland's. I want to make sure we won't be surprised in the future by some relative or stipulation we've failed to account for. After that, we can take Sophia to look at the house in Triangle.'

'If the house is up to Harold's usual standards,' Mulder taunted, his breath cascading over Scully's ear, sending a shiver of apprehension down her spine, 'you'll love it, we'll move in immediately and your mom will have a venue for our wedding, solving all problems.'

'What about our apartments, Mulder,' Scully asked.

Casually shrugging his shoulders, Mulder stated, 'we can either sell or rent your home, whatever you prefer. We don't need to make a decision on that right away. Mines rented. I can cancel the lease easily. I bet,' teasingly, he gave Scully a devilish grin, 'you won't let me keep most of my furniture.'

An eye roll later, Mulder knew his suspicions to be correct. 'Your furniture can inhabit your office,' Scully countered.

Harold gave a contented chuckle at the byplay between them. 'I originally brought the house to live in,' he commented, 'so it has all the comforts of a real home. It's currently furnished in a style much like this,' he held up his arms, indicating the room they sat in, 'homely and easily lived in. However I find the commute into the city harrowing on a daily basis.'

'I bet you still live in your upscale suburban town house,' Mulder mocked.

'Indeed,' Harold returned, taking a key ring, set of plans and several photos from his attaché case and placing them on the coffee table before the young couple, 'I found the family home didn't suit an old bachelor like me. It needs a growing family. Let me show you.'

Offering the items to Scully, she carefully scrutinised the design. Taking each photo, Dana matched it to the location on the plan or the outside of the house. Unable to hide her surprise at the seemingly flawless house, Scully knew they'd take it. Harold continued to extoll the virtues long after Mulder saw the capitulation in Dana's blue gaze. _It's perfect_, a look informed him.

'You can stop now,' Mulder baited, witnessing the joy emanating from his partner, 'Scully's sold without seeing the place, Harold. We'll take it and start moving in tomorrow,' Mulder pocketed the keys.

'Everything that's happened, it's just too easy and that worries me,' Scully stated, a sheen glazing her eyes. 'I feel like we're been given this most precious gift, but it could all be torn away at any moment.'

Mulder took Scully into his arms, tucking her head under his chin. He also found the simplicity of discovering, then gaining custody of the children hauntingly tranquil. Everything had gone to plan. Finding proof, stealing the remaining embryos, hiding them at the FBI, Harold's involvement and subsequent aid to have their case heard by a trusted colleague sympathetic to their plight appear scripted to Mulder. In the years on the X-files, Mulder and Scully had to fight for the smallest clue, loose parts of themselves they'd rather not and battle nameless, faceless enemies for a tiny piece of the overall puzzle.

'Maybe someone's making it easy for us, Scully,' Mulder returned with the only explanation that made any sense. 'What better way to get us off the X-files. By permanently giving us what we've always wanted they've effectively closed us down forever. Besides, we're considering moving across the country to get away from this madness and start our new life.'

'You're what,' Maggie suddenly broke into the conversation.

Combing his hand through his hair in agitation, Mulder's cheeks reddened in embarrassment. Looking down at Scully, her eyebrow spoke volumes, _you put your foot in it. You explain our discussion to my mother_.

'Scully and I are considering a move to San Diego after we get permanent custody of the children,' Mulder started, watching his future mother-in-laws reaction. She seemed to hang on his every word. 'We feel a new location and fresh start would be beneficial to our family. We want Sophia and the boys away from any unpleasant memories they might have gained in the last week. Maggie, we've considered you and your feelings and don't want it to affect you. Would you like to relocate, possibly live with us, and be close to all your children and grandchildren?'

'Dana,' Maggie couldn't contain the hope in her facial expression.

'I always loved the sea,' Scully's gaze took on a faraway expression of hope and sadness as she remembered her father, sister and first daughter. 'When I went to MCAS Miramar a few years ago, I remembered the times Missy and I enjoyed as a child. Spending Christmas at Bill's, finding and loosing Emily…'

'Emily's grave is in San Diego, Maggie,' Mulder reminded, 'and we now know she was my child too.'

'Oh,' Maggie's sad look stated she understood the implications, 'you found out today, with the other children.'

'Yes,' Mulder answered softly, leaning down to plant a kiss on the crown of Scully's head. She held him tighter, gaining comfort from his embrace. 'We have to ensure we have Sophia, Caleb and William legally named as our offspring on their birth certificates before we make plans. We thought we'd take a vacation to look around next month and would appreciate you coming with us.'

'I'll see how quickly we can set a court date,' Harold interrupted, 'so hold off on your plans until you hear from me. I should have an answer by the end of the week.'

Accepting the Federal Court Judges help, Mulder acknowledged it with, 'let's get the planning for this wedding out of the way. Scully's been awake over 36 hours and we have a child who might be up several times overnight given her disrupted life.'

Coming out of her daze, Scully took a deep, cleansing breath, attempting to put her worries behind her. It took fifteen minutes to state her wishes. Using simple as the best policy given their time constraints, mother and daughter ironed out any issues and made arrangements. Between Maggie and Scully they divided up the list of jobs to be achieved by Friday at four. It seemed endless to Mulder who been given his fair share of the work load.

Ten O'clock rolled around and neither Mulder nor Scully could keep their eyes open. Taking the hint, Maggie made a move to leave. Collecting the used glasses, Harold took them into the kitchen, indicating Mulder should follow him for a private discussion while Maggie went to say goodnight her sleeping granddaughter.

'Son,' Harold placed a hand on Mulder's shoulder, 'I know both of your parents have passed, not that they treated you well on your last wedding day. I'm the closest individual you have to a living relative. I'm giving you the Triangle house for as long as you need it, consider it my wedding gift. Also I want you to come by my town house at six tomorrow evening. I'll have my housekeeper prepare a meal. Bring you Fiancée if you want. I'll have the jeweller that made Katherine's wedding set on hand so you can chose your rings.'

Cut to the bone by the offer, Mulder worked hard to keep his voice steady as he said, 'Thank you.'

'I just wish I could do more,' Harold returned, 'that you'd let me do more, you're the closest I've come to having a son of my own.'

'You've done so much for us already by allowing us legal access to our children in the shortest possible timeframe. I'm sure Scully realises just how much you've smoothed our path,' Mulder's tone displayed his appreciation, 'that doesn't mean she'll trust you.'

'The X-files haven't treated your fiancée well, Mulder,' Harold let the younger man know he found out all about the syndicates plans for Dr Scully. 'I understand her caution and her fears for you and the children.'

'I know you'll do more if you find it within your influence,' Mulder agreed. 'You have no idea what those children mean to Scully and I.'

'I think I do,' Harold's smile took on a melancholy air. 'I never found the right woman, Mulder. You've been lucky enough to get a second chance. Take her away from this darkness, let others fight the battle. God knows there are enough people trying.'

'Allow myself to be happy,' Mulder mocked. 'I think I realised that today when I held my son in my arms for the first time. I'm done chasing monsters with butterfly nets. I have a family to love and cherish as far away from the shadows that I've allowed to consume me for so long.'

Taking the younger man into a bear hug, Harold ensured Mulder had everything they needed to live in their new home. He quietly said his farewells. Joining Maggie and Dana as they exited Sophia's room, he held out the older woman's coat for her.

'I'll see you at the hospital tomorrow,' Maggie kissed her daughter and Fox at the front door. Harold escorted her to her car. Scully watched as the older couple spoke for several minutes. They climbed into separate cars before her mother drove off in the opposite direction to Harold.

'Something's going on there,' Scully's internal radar sent out warning sounds.

'You might just be right,' Mulder spoke into Scully shoulder. 'Harold and your mom have both been lonely for a long time.'

'What are you saying, Mulder,' Scully demanded.

'Harold's attracted to your mother, Scully,' he teased lightly, 'and why shouldn't he be, she just an older version of you.'

Before she could answer, Mulder's hand stole around to the front of her blouse, undoing the top buttons. Gently pushing the material away, he exposed her soft, flawlessly smooth skin. Giving himself permission to access Scully's shoulder, Mulder moved her bra strap out of his lips marauding way.

'What do you think you're doing, Mulder,' Scully asked sharply, attempting to step away from him.

'Making love to my fiancée,' he returned with a boyish grin, increasing the strength of his hold. 'I love you, Scully, no drugs this time.' Sighing, he knew he should give her more time to come to terms with the change in their relationship. Giving up for the time being, Mulder turned Scully in his arms. Now facing her, he said, 'no kinky, wild sex tonight, you look dead on your feet and I don't feel much better.'

She didn't get a chance to answer as Mulder's lips met hers. His tongue demanded entry, twisting and tangling with Scully's. While lost in her newly awoken passion, Mulder did something he only ever dreamed of. He picked Scully up and carried her into her bedroom. Carefully laying them down side by side, he began to remove the rest of her buttons from her blouse.

'Mulder,' Scully's logical brain finally broke thought the haze of desire.

'I'm just helping you get undressed for bed,' he grinned wickedly while his hand continued to the button on her suit pants. 'Why don't you give it try, turn about is fare play and I'll let you undress me any time.'

'I believe you,' Scully managed to get out in a level tone as his hand brushed against her thigh, attempting to remove her clothing. The simple act woke long forgotten desires. Desires she had no hope of keeping constrained after seven years of building tension and rampant fantasies.

Tiredness forgotten, Scully's hands reached for Mulder's shirt, ripping it open, buttons popped and flew everywhere. 'Ooo, Scully, I didn't know you had it in you,' Mulder teased breathlessly, finding a better use for his mouth. He hadn't meant for things to progress this far. He'd hoped they might sleep beside each other naked. It seemed Scully had other ideas.

'If the baby wakes in the night, Mulder,' Scully panted, her tongue tantalising a male nipple, 'you're getting up to her.'

'I'm getting up either way, Scully,' Mulder lifted his head, gazing into her eyes. Fast approaching a point of no return, he attempted to communicate the fact to Scully, 'but if you continue that, you're going to need to look after the little boy.'

Keeping a straight face, Scully reached for his zipper. Removing the obstacles in her way, she felt and found what she searched for. 'I'd say the little boy's grown into a big boy, Mulder.'

Speechless, Mulder growled low in his throat. Taking her head in his hands, he unleashed his hunger, kissing Scully as he'd always imagined, with controlled passion. Rewarded by her returning his desire, they came together in a rush, unable to wait any longer to consummate their soul deep emotions for each other.

'Scully,' Mulder gently teased her lobe with a kiss as they allowed their breathing to come back to normal, 'next time let's take it slowly.'

'Mmm,' she grunted, followed by a soft snore. Collecting her spooned body closer, he followed her into a deep, contented sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

'Mr and Mrs Mulder,' the proprietor of the real estate company held out his hand. The man had called late yesterday for an urgent appointment. Somehow he'd managed to talk his way around Kenneth Winslow's usually unflappable sectary. Now twenty minutes after their ten O'clock meeting, the thirty something couple presented themselves.

They looked like an average family, far too average for the neighbourhood's he managed. However Peter Inkster might have something he could show them. Forcing a smile, Ken decided to give them ten minutes of his time before fobbing the couple off to his employee.

'Special Agent Fox Mulder,' the man corrected, one arm around the infant in her carrier, the other offering his black FBI wallet. The woman at his side took her matching identification from her pocket, a concealed weapon on her hip, 'this is my partner, Agent Dana Scully.'

Confused, the realtor looked from one to the other before realising the child he held in his arms looked familiar but he couldn't place her. Kenneth understood he'd misinterpreted the reason for this visit. Unsure he wanted his business involved in an FBI investigation, he asked, 'How can I help you?'

'I believe your company has a letting agreement with Mr Joseph Mulholland and his wife, Sally,' Scully made the question sound like a statement.

'I believe so,' Kenneth stuttered in agreement, his mind working overtime to place the name. 'Peter Inkster would be the relator you need to speak to in regard to Mr and Mrs Mulholland's contract,' he finally recalled the couple.

'That won't be necessary at the moment,' Scully informed the confused man. 'Mr and Mrs Mulholland were involved in a fatal road accident Wednesday evening.'

'Oh,' Winslow stammered, falling into his chair behind his desk. Remembering the Mulholland's had a little girl, he stuttered, 'the daughter, that's the daughter isn't it.'

'Agent Mulder and I have been give temporary custody of the Mulholland children,' Scully continued, managing to keep a straight face as the word stuck in her throat. Feeling the bile rise, Scully worked hard to hide the outrage at labelling her children "Mulholland's" to this perfect stranger. Sophia and her brother's would only ever bear the name Mulder in her mind. She had no intention of telling the entire story to a real estate agent she'd never see again. 'Sophia survived the accident as the family returned from visiting the twins. The boys are still in hospital. We'd like to know if the family has a next of kin listed on the rental agreement.'

'Just a moment,' Kenneth left the pair in his office while he went to talk to his sectary. He came back moments later with the Mulholland letting agreement and file. Handing it to Scully, she quickly scanned the document. A slight nod of her head informing Mulder it held exactly what they expected. 'I'm afraid we don't have anyone listed. They moved into the house two years ago and intended giving up the lease when it next came due. They've been looking for a bigger property for obvious reasons.'

'Thank you,' Scully gave the man a soft smile and made a move to leave. She couldn't stand to be here any longer than necessary. A hand reached out to rest on her forearm, stopping her.

'Could we take a look around the family home,' Mulder suddenly asked his grip tightening on Scully arm.

The look Mulder sent, asked Scully to go along with him. He couldn't tell her why, but he knew this would prove important. Some instinct, the same one's he followed when on the trail of an X-file, made Mulder believe they needed to see the house where Sophia had spent the first eleven months of her life.

'I'll get the key for you on the way out,' Kenneth conceded, 'but I can't allow you to remove anything without a court order.'

'I understand, sir,' Mulder answered with more sympathy than Scully had ever seen him use. She wondered at his purpose and the psychology behind it. 'Sophia has just lost both her parents in a tragic accident, her twin brothers are currently in the hospital's neonatal unit, and she's spent several nights in an orphanage. I had hoped to prevail on your compassion and allow my partner and I to remove a few objects which would make Sophia's transition to our care more comfortable for her.'

'As far as the FBI is concerned, Mr and Mrs Mulholland have no living relatives,' Scully added, backing up her partner. 'I have the legal documents granting Agent Mulder and myself custody of all three children if you'd like to see them.'

'Please,' Kenneth nodded. While horrified at the tragedy, every moment that house stood vacant cost his company. Taking the paperwork, he looked it over. No stranger to the court system in his business, he knew the documents to be above board. In fact he'd met the Judge who'd signed the temporary custody order. The details agreed with those these Federal Agents had supplied. 'I don't usually do this,' he stated, looking up at the pair before him, 'under the circumstances, I can't see any other choice. Take whatever you need from the house. Without family, the personal items will end up with a charity or worse. I'll have the agent in charge of the property follow this up. Do you know where I can send the remainder of the household goods and rental deposit?'

'I'm sorry, Sir,' Mulder spoke quietly, 'as far as we're aware, Mr and Mrs Mulholland died intestate with only one living relative in a long-term care facility.'

'That makes things rather difficult,' Kenneth muttered under his breath. It meant the state of Virginia would gain almost everything from the estate. From the history of rental payments and the yearly financial check, he didn't think it would amount to much.

'Thank you for your time, Mr Winslow,' Scully offered her hand, leading Mulder from the room. 'We'll return the key to your receptionist within an hour.'

As they drove up to the unassuming suburban home nestled among others that looked similar in shape and design. While the nondescript house looked better kept than some of its neighbours, the surroundings weren't salubrious. Children played in the street, dressed in department store specials. In this working neighbourhood, parents toiled to give their children the basics.

'I know what you're thinking, Scully,' Mulder teased lightly, his emotions matching his fiancée's. 'Not the greatest place to bring up kids. Certainly not what you and I took for granted where we grew up and not what we'd want for our children.'

'Yet our daughter spent almost the first year of her life here,' Scully returned, climbing out of the car. Sophia's excitement at the familiar surroundings displayed as a constant stream of enthusiastic and animated babble. 'From the sound of it, very happily,' Scully forced the comment past her dry lips.

Nodding in agreement, Mulder placed his hand on the small of her back, guiding them the front door. It opened into a hallway, two bedrooms and a bathroom off one side, large living room and dining room turned into an office on the other. The kitchen and laundry had to be at the back of the house, behind the door at the end of the hall. Scully took in the basic floor plan in a single glance.

Sophia wriggled, demanding to be placed on the familiar floor. Scampering into the living room, Scully and Mulder followed. The room held good quality but well-worn furniture. Sally Mulholland had chosen each piece carefully and well for its serviceability. It would survive three children and still give a well-loved appearance. An entertainment centre held a relatively new TV and VCR. Catching Scully's gaze, row up upon row of photographs in handmade frames covered the top of the wooden cabinet.

One wall sported three poster sized prints and many smaller pictures. The objects captured in the frames, mostly Sophia, Sally's pregnant belly or the entire family. These had been professionally finished for display telling of Sally's prowess with a camera.

Beginning to cry because she couldn't find the object of her affection, Sophia raced into the room across the hall. Scully followed, holding back tears as her daughter sort the comforting arms of another woman. A woman Dana knew she'd never find. It broke her heart to hear Sophia's keening wails as she searched in vain for the only Mother she'd known until a week ago.

'Let her go, Scully,' Mulder whispered into his partners' ear, embracing her from behind in support and comfort, 'she needs to realise Sally's gone. Our daughter will come back to us for reassurance. Then you can take her hurts away by giving her the security she needs and cement the bond between you.'

'Pop psychology, Mulder,' Scully's tone fell flat.

He answered with a slow, passion filled kiss. Finally letting go, their eye's met. Scully saw how this emotional outburst from his daughter devastated him. Together they turned toward the horrendous sobbing as their little girl realised her mother couldn't be found. Pulling herself up, she grabbed a woman robe off the bed. Falling onto her rump, she buried herself in it and sobbed hysterically.

'I can't watch this, Mulder,' Scully no longer felt able to keep her emotions intact. Turning, she buried her head into her partner's chest, adding to the noise level by softly weeping.

Finally spent, Sophia looked up at her parents, green eyes pools of shear misery. She demanded to be held close, to feel safe but mostly to be loved. Mulder moved, allowing Scully to see the desperation in her child's gaze. Scooping the little girl into her arms, Sophia clung to Sally's robe while reaching for Scully's warmth and comfort. Unable to be far away from his family, Mulder wrapped both women in his protective embrace.

'I want to go,' Scully snuffled, intensifying her hold on Sophia.

'Not yet,' Mulder pleaded, 'I want to see the children's room.'

'Mulder,' Scully begged, her blue orbs asking him not to put her through any more today. Somehow he'd managed to relocate them into the hall way. His determination winning out, Mulder stopped before a door with Sophia's name in bright, hand painted letters.

'I need to see,' he apologised, 'how they cared for Sophia.'

Walking into Sophia's room, a room destine to house the twins, Scully couldn't help blurting, 'they loved them, Mulder, even though they had so little, they wanted and cherished Sophia and the boys.'

Astounded by the painted mural of famous children's characters on the walls, Scully took her time to scrutinise every item in the nursery. One wall contained a crib, handcrafted quilt and teddies in all shades of pink decorating Sophia's bed. Above the change table, a homemade mobile, each story book character lovingly hanging just in reach of a child having their dipper renewed. Against the other wall, ready for their arrival, a large bassinet once again decorated in hand stitched bedding and covered in lovingly made teddies. A yellow and blue theme displaying Sally and Joseph Mulholland probably knew the gender of the twins.

Before Sophia could react to the situation, Mulder dragged Scully from the room. He'd return later to pack up the items Sally had made for her children. Scully admired the time, effort and love which went into making such beautiful things as much as Mulder. Both wanted their children to benefit from Sally's hard work and dedication, for them to one day know how much the woman who gave birth to them cherished them.

After taking a quick peek into the kitchen and office, they returned to the living room. Picking up a photo of the Mulholland family, Scully showed the frame to Sophia, allowing the child to keep the picture.

'No wonder Sophia bonded to you so quickly,' Scully commented, taking a dozen photos from their frames and placing them into her hand bag. Most followed Sophia's major milestones. The one she held out to Mulder showed Sally holding her daughter, her husband at her left shoulder.

'There is a similarity,' Mulder agreed, looking at a man who could have been is brother. 'We need to take this too. One day Sophia and her brothers are going to ask why there aren't any pictures of you while pregnant, Scully.' Waving the picture in the air, he continued, 'we'll have an easier time explaining that fact with this.'

'They spent every cent they had to conceive their miracle child,' Scully contemplated sadly, accepting the picture and the explanation, 'they wanted and love the boys, even before they were born. Sally went to so much trouble, hand making their toys and bedding.' Facing her partner, she wondered, 'they had everything and it's gone in a second, Mulder. What if that happens to us?'

'You can't look at it that way, Scully,' he rushed back to her side, taking Dana into his warm, protective clasp. Kissing her lightly on the head, Mulder closed his eyes as the same thoughts ran through his overactive imagination. 'You believe in God, Scully, then we have to believe this is fate working for us.'

'Makes a nice change,' Scully attempted humour, only partly succeeding through her almost dry tears.

'Yes,' Mulder agreed, once again leaning in for a chastise kiss, 'it does.'

'I'm still worried Mulder,' Scully finally found the courage to look up at him, 'what if this has all been planned, their conception, the Mulholland's death, DNA testing, custody.'

'We'll still end up with our children,' Mulder soothed, a hand running up and down Scully's spine, 'something neither of us realised we wanted until this came about.'

Empathetic to her sense of fear, Mulder's lightning fast mind considered and reconsidered every aspect and angle of the last two days. Not for the first time, thought came unbidden. Since playing chess with the X-files and losing, since retrieving Scully from Antarctica and being censured, he realised someone else controlled the board with Scully and himself as pieces to be played and taken at their bequest.

'How long would we have gone on in this limbo, Scully,' Mulder asked, aware how much her dismissal of his deepest feeling had come between them, 'before one of us finally broke down and confessed our true feelings? We've both been aware of the growing attraction for years. Would we ever come to this point in our lives without help? Not even your cancer managed to get us together.'

'What then?' he continued to question, considering his personal perspective. 'I've been chasing down X files on our time without sanction from the Bureau, placing your life and career in danger. How long before Kersh found out and separated us, reassigning to opposite ends of the country or better still, managed to have us dismissed. I couldn't lose you, Scully. I'm not prepared too. I told you that with your reassignment to Salt Lake City, the night we almost took our relationship to another level.'

'How long before we tried to use your ova I rescued,' the intensity in his voice kept Scully spellbound. This dialogue, as much as the keepsake box, demonstrated, beyond doubt the level of Mulder's feeling towards her. 'God, I didn't know enough all those years ago to keep your DNA protected for transport. All your eggs died because I rely on you for the science. I only found out with those documents from the clinic of my stupidity. You've always been my other half, Scully.'

'I wondered,' Scully managed to insert into his self-flagellation, 'how they could be viable.' She'd always questioned why he'd finally decided to tell her about it on returning from Antarctica.

'As much as I want to chase this thing to the ground,' undeterred, Mulder returned to his previous train of thought, 'to find out what really happened to Sally and Joseph Mulholland, I've come to realised, it doesn't matter. We have our children and our future children. I just want to get this all wrapped up and take them and you as far away from this darkness as possible.'

'Mulder,' Scully looked at him incredulously. Her expressive eyes asking all the questions she refused to verbalise. 'After everything we've been through, everything we've seen, you're really just going to give up?' she managed to stutter.

'No, Scully,' he grinned wickedly, 'you know me better than that. I'll never give up on finding the Truth. I've already found part of it in you and our children. I'll promise you this, I'm not going to deliberately put my life in danger. I have two sons and a daughter now. I want them to have the kind of memories of their father you have of yours.'

'I'm hoping you might be home a little more often than Ahab,' Scully managed to keep the emotions still running rampant in her mind from being expressed in her tone.


	12. Chapter 12

'I want to come back before Caleb's released from the hospital,' Scully commented as they drove away from the Mulholland's house.

On entering the boys' hospital room en route to the realtor's office, they discovered Dr Matheson intended to discharge Caleb the following day. Yasmine Fitzgerald, the hospital accounts administrator waited for Mulder and Scully as they left the unit. Politely, she enquired who would be fiscally responsible for the twins, given the unusual legal situation. Relief flooded the young woman's face as Mulder immediately pledged himself. She led them into her office to fill out the appropriate documentation. Blanching at the total, Mulder and Scully could only hope their FBI medical insurance covered family members.

Until then, Scully and Mulder kept to their ridged timetable, even when William's nurse allow both parents to hold their son for the first time. He gained almost two ounces and a step closer to coming home. They'd been elated at the news. Tomorrow the staff wanted to attempt William's first bottle feed with a view to removing his nasogastric tube on Thursday. Scully hoped they'd have him home for the wedding. It wouldn't be the same without all their children in attendance.

The meeting with Yasmine took twenty minutes they didn't have, making them late for their appointment with Kenneth Winslow. The unaccounted time spent at the Mulholland home meant they no longer had time to see the Triangle house first hand before moving in this afternoon.

'We'll make an inventory of all the belongings we've taken from The Mulholland's,' Mulder didn't need to look into her eyes to see the sadness there. Nor did he want to subject either his fiancée or daughter to another visit. If it needed to be done, he'd do it alone. 'I managed to get everything you wanted into the kitchen tidy bags I found and fit them into the trunk of the car. If there's anything else you think Sophia or her brothers will want one day, we'll call Mr Winslow and have him deliver it to our new home.'

'You really want to move in today, Mulder,' Scully couldn't help the groan that escaped her tight control. As if they didn't have enough on their plate. After contacting Kersh, an official meeting had been set up with their ultimate line manager regarding their future. At three Thursday afternoon, they'd learn formally what Harold had imparted off the record. They'd also need to change their domicile and relationship status with the Bureau and find out about family medical cover.

'I know Harold,' Mulder chanced a glance her way, 'the only things we need to move will be our clothing and the children's furniture for the moment. I'll have everything from my apartment relocated into yours, except the fish tank, until we decide where or if we're going to stay employed by the Bureau.'

'Mom loves the idea of her family living in the same state,' Scully announced, 'she's looking forward to the trip to San Diego. We'll be forced to stay with both of my brothers while we're there, Mulder.' That eyebrow told him not to complain or make a disparaging comment. 'You can't escape Bill's hospitality as my husband,' she quipped, remembering the time he'd flown out to help with Emily's adoption and chose to stay at a motel.

Mulder didn't grace her comment with a response understanding Scully wouldn't expect one. Deciding the crack of a sunflower seed between his teeth would speak for itself, Mulder looked into the rear vision mirror. What he saw reminded him why he'd put up with Bill, or any other Scully family members abrasive company.

Sophia slept restlessly in her baby seat. After the emotional turmoil of the morning, she snored lightly, exhausted but still clutching Sally's terry robe. Giving her parents time to return the key, they continued to Mulder's building. Scully's car still parked exactly where she left it in the early hours of yesterday morning.

'I'm going to pack,' Mulder lent across the space between them and kissed Scully soundly on the lips, 'and take my belongings to the Triangle house. You know Scully,' he shivered at the words about to issue from his mouth, 'we really could do with baby seats in both our cars. If we're going to be moving states in the near future, I can't see any point in buying a larger vehicle now, we can make that decision when we relocate. We'd be able to ship one set of seats and take the others on the plane. I read you can take them on aircraft and it's actually safer for the kids.'

Scully worked to keep the amusement from all but her expressive eyes. She failed miserably as the car filled with her delighted laughter. Mulder didn't look so pleased. Glancing over her shoulder once the chuckles subsided, Scully told her slumbering daughter, 'I think you and your brothers have your father wrapped around your fingers already, baby girl.'

Handing his partner the keys to his car, Mulder demanded Scully's. 'Unless,' he kept a straight face, 'you want to be the first to try swapping the baby seat between cars, it looks like we'll have to swap.'

'There's a good reason I paid The Baby Store to fit that contraption and construct Sophia's crib,' Scully managed to fire back, rummaging around in her bag for her car keys. Silently she wondered what drove both of them to purchase Ford Tauruses, thankful it made swapping vehicles easy.

'I'll meet you at the hospital later this afternoon. I have a couple of things I need to take care of. We'll visit the boys before going to dinner at Harold's,' Mulder said through the open window, before turning to cross the street.

Climbing into the driver's side, Scully considered everything she needed to achieve this afternoon. Picking up her cell, she called the home delivery section of The Baby Store. Passing the time, she watched Sophia's chest rise and fall with each sleepy respiration. Arranging for the rest of her purchases to be delivered to their new home as early as possible tomorrow, Scully started the car and headed to Georgetown Memorial and her son's.

The visit only long enough to feed, wash and change Caleb in preparation for bringing him home, Scully completed the tasks to his nurses' satisfaction. Allowing herself to briefly hold William, Dana brought a pillow case covered with both Mulder and her combined unique odour. His nurse beamed at the attempt to bond with her child, using the material as the covering for his crib's mattress. Now the tiny scrap of humanity would be surrounded by his parents sent, getting to know them before joining his family.

Maggie used the time to connect with Sophia. She'd taken one of Fox's t-shirt and worn it under her turtleneck, giving her a fair chance of success. The child's emotional breakdown earlier completed her capitulation. Sophia allowed her grandmother to feed her lunch followed by a midday cup of milk while held in the safety and comfort of her arms. Margaret Scully knew her prayers had been granted. Still this situation drew on all her faith. Not since joining the FBI had she seen Dana so happy and she wanted her only living daughter to stay that way.

'I called Ellen and David,' Maggie said as they left the hospital, 'and even though it's been a while since you've seen her, she's coming over this afternoon, with a few of my friends from church, to help you pack.'

'It might be a good time to reconnect,' Scully agreed saddened by the fact she let the friendship slip, 'I know she'll have to leave early to pick the kids up form school.'

'Dana, your godson turns eleven this year,' Maggie reminded gently, 'as the youngest of Ellen's children, he catches the bus to and from school.'

Suitably chastised, Scully opened the rear door to Mulder's car. After securing Sophia, she wondered what awaited her. It didn't take long to find the hive of activity usually known as her quiet apartment. Maggie had called in every old friend, neighbour and church associate to help transfer her daughter into her new home. Harold moved heaven and earth to find a rental truck, placing it at Maggie's disposal. It didn't take Dana Scully long to realise the two had conspired to bring about this sudden change of domicile.

'When you mom want's something achieved in a hurry,' Ellen greeted her friend, 'it happens. How are you, Dana?'

Smiling tightly, Scully answered, 'Fine, I'm fine.'

'Well you don't look fine,' Ellen's total honesty won the battle over politeness, 'you look like you could do with three days continuous sleep, but I hear twins do that to you.'

'It won't take long for me to find out,' Scully answered blandly, 'Caleb's being discharged in the morning and we're hoping William will follow on Friday.'

Laughing at her college friend, Ellen managed, teasingly, 'your mom tells me you finally got a life, that guy you work with,' pointing to Sophia watching the activity from her playpen, 'and the motherhood to go with it.'

Reminded of the long ago conversation, Scully found her lips curling up into a smile. 'So it would appear,' the wisecracked exited before she could stop it. 'You've always had this effect on me, El.'

'What effect,' Ellen looked puzzled.

'Realising I can laugh at myself,' Scully stated, embracing her long-time friend and feeling the years of solitude and separation fall away. 'Sometimes I forget how consumed I've become by the work.'

Pulling back, Ellen surveyed the woman before her. 'That's because,' she paused momentarily, not sure how Scully would take her words, 'you've never had anyone to consume your time. Believe me, three children under one, you're going to have your work cut out for you, Dana. Even I made sure we had at least two years between the boys.'

Razing that eyebrow, Scully mocked, 'you finally admit you deliberately fell pregnant in your sophomore and Senior year.'

'No,' Ellen retorted, seeing Dana's comment for the change of subject it represented. She wouldn't be deterred. 'Take it from someone who knows, both you and Mulder won't have a minute to yourselves for at least another three years. If you think your career kept you busy, just wait until the twin's start crawling. Then you'll know what life's all about.'

Looking at her friend incredulously, Scully realised Ellen's assessment came as a timely reminder. She'd forgotten about everything in her search for Mulder's truth and answers to her abduction and cancer. Sophia and her brother's would stop any investigation into the paranormal as she learnt to become a mother.

Neither Scully nor Mulder could take off on a whim with young lives depending on them for their every need. While Mulder's mind had intellectually recognised this, Scully's heart only just acknowledged the fact. How long would it be until Mulder accepted this new truth and chafed at the restriction a wife and three children imposed.

'I see trouble in paradise,' Ellen prophesised.

'This has happened so suddenly,' Scully gazed into the trusting eyes of the little girl across the room. 'I don't think it's really sunk in just yet.'

'It never does,' Ellen explained patiently, 'even when you think you're ready, when you've planned this life. Every time you think you have a handle on it, it changes, presenting new challenges. I have three boys who all went through the same stages of development a couple of years apart, yet no two reacted the same way. It's like experiencing it all over again without the manual to give you any advice. Each child is such an individual, unique, it takes time, effort and energy to get though each day.'

'I don't know if I'm cut out to be a mother,' Scully pondered, wondering where the thought originated.

'Yes you are,' Ellen encouraged, 'if you weren't a little afraid and anxious about the responsibility you've taken on, then I'd question your ability. I've seen you with kid's Dana, you'll do fine.'

'Thanks, El,' Scully murmured, finding the talk had produced so many mixed feelings.

'Don't think you're alone feeling this way,' Ellen laughed, seeing the gratitude in her friends' expression. 'I feel the same way most days. Wondering why I didn't stay single and chase a career in Physics. Then one of my boys throws their arms around me, silently telling me they love me and it's all worth it. The pain, the frustration, the tedious hours of helping with homework and picking up dirty clothes, it all pales in to insignificance when compared to the unconditional love of your children. If you didn't get the opportunity to experience it, Dana, you'd be missing out on the meaning of life. You're a nurturer at heart, you need this more than you realise. If it's your partner your worried about, don't. Believe me, men are worse than us women when it comes to the health and wellbeing of their children.'

Scully silently considered Mulder's reaction to Sophia in the orphanage. He instigated her trust. Then holding Caleb for the first time, the emotional connection he found with his son had been life changing. This morning, touching William had no less of an effect. The same emotions he experienced yesterday returned with William Mulder's blue eyes capturing the gaze of his father. A tiny hand and even smaller fingers wrapped around one of his father's digits. The sheen of tears clouded Mulder's hazel orbs.

One look at Scully and he'd communicated what he couldn't say, what he'd never be able to say aloud unless under the influence of very powerful analgesia or in the throes of passion. _I love you_. She'd returned the emotion, whole heartily and without reservation. Unbidden, Scully realised they'd been telling each other this very same thing for years. It'd always hung between them, unsaid, unacknowledged but present in every interaction.

'I think you might be right,' Scully confessed to her friend, 'Mulder's dedication once his interest has been engaged it all consuming.' She couldn't be sure if the subject remained their children or the connection between them.

'Dana,' Ellen turned serious, 'you wouldn't be happy with anything less. From what I hear, your Fiancée is a perfect match for you. If he didn't have the same level of intellect, you'd go crazy. If his passion for truth and justice didn't equate to yours, you'd have left him behind years ago. Mostly, if he didn't feel about you the way you deserved, the way you care for him, this would never have come about. I know you. You don't let anyone in easily. It's a testament to this man that you've dropped your emotional barriers. I've got eyes in my head. I can see how happy you are.'

'I'm so afraid it'll just change in an instant and disappear,' Scully spoke so quietly, Ellen almost missed the words.

'That feeling will never leave you, Dana, you're a mother now,' Ellen grinned, lightening the mood. 'If only I had a dollar for all the nights I've laid awake worrying about my boys, and I include the big boy I call husband in that number, I'd be a millionaire.' Giving her friend time to let the word sink in, Ellen pointed to Mrs Scully, 'I think we've been summoned.'

Rolling her eyes, Scully knew her mother. As the wife of a career naval officer, she had a better handle of moving house than anyone she knew. 'Believe me,' Scully whispered, 'just follow orders. Even my father made sure he'd be at sea when we moved house.'

_**AUTHOR'S NOTES**_

_**I'm sorry my posts will be sporadic in the next few months. My life has just about reached the toilet stage. No use complaining, just have to get on with it. So, to all my loyal readers, thank you for sticking with me. My story plans are as follows:**_

_**Time Slip has six more chapters, all planed only one nearly written. Updating will be some time in the future. This story is currently on hold.**_

_**Mrs Spooky Diaries is on permanent hold and may be abandoned as it's not really attracting a readership.**_

_**Catalyst is a work in progress. We have two seasons to get through. Don't expect too much as this is an epic in the making. I can't see less than 20-30 chapters.**_

_**Picture Perfect (PP) is supposed to be a three or four chapter short story. Chapter two is half written, the others still in my imagination.**_

_**Dreams will have about five or six more chapters. I'll be concentrating on Dreams, then PP as they're closest to being finished so all I have to do is find the time to write them. In the mean time I promise not to start anything else, although I have so many ideas.**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Maggie took this chapter, made sure I included Harold and made it her own. This wasn't even on the drawing board but I'm kind of glad Maggie struck her nose in cause it's (in my humble opinion) one of the stand out chapters.**_

* * *

><p>Maggie stood between her daughters living area and the hallway to the bedrooms. Hearing the activity in the bathroom winding down, she knew the space would soon be available to carry out the rest of her plan. So far Ellen Taylor-Smith had fulfilled her role as a decoy. Her daughter's college friend engaged Dana in idle conversation. From the looks of it, the conversation turned serious at some point.<p>

Watching the interaction between the two younger women, Maggie took in every little nuisance. Whatever they spoke of, Dana listened intently. Ellen's easy companionship had a very positive effect, calming her daughter as they spoke quietly. Sighing, Mrs Scully realised the moment had been broken as they looked towards her.

'I don't think they realise just how much has to be done,' Maggie complained to Harold. Had that only been yesterday afternoon as they meet by the Potomac, Margaret Scully wondered. In the hours since they'd been in almost constant contact keeping their wayward charges on track in the attempt to get everything achieved.

'Maggie,' Harold reached across the table, taking her hand in comfort and pledging his assistance, 'I signed the interim agreement giving guardianship to the Sisters and ordering the DNA testing. When the results hit my desk late Thursday afternoon last week, I began to comprehend the can of worms that had been opened. Knowing Fox Mulder and his family history, I knew he'd do anything and everything in his power to protect these children. It didn't take much research to recognise the same values in your daughter.'

'You've been helping them in the background,' Maggie finally realised exactly why Harold had called.

'I've made arrangements but I need you to help me get this stubborn pair to accept them. I thought my niece headstrong and tenacious until I met your daughter this morning,' Harold allowed a slight smile to turn the corners of his lips. 'Katherine wanted her wedding to be small and quiet. She demanded it take place away from the prying eyes of the media given her father's death less than three months earlier and the interest in the young man photographed at her side during his funeral service. They met through the investigation, Mulder responsible for the profile that finally caught my brother's killer. I didn't do enough for Katherine and Mulder when they were married,' Harold informed the shocked woman. 'You didn't know about my niece's marriage to Mulder?'

'No,' Maggie pursed her lips, shaking her head.

'Katherine passed away from a rare form of cancer almost ten years ago,' Harold explained softly, sadness and hurt still intonated in the words. 'They'd only been married six months, but Mulder had a very hard time letting go.'

'It explains a lot,' a dejected expression enveloped Maggie's face, 'you know we almost lost Dana to cancer the year before last. They were only friends then,' remembering a time when she peeked into her daughters room only to find Mulder crumpled on the floor, his world shattered, Maggie had known then the unspoken feeling between them. They'd all thought they'd lose Dana during the night.

'I don't believe they've ever been just friends,' Harold smiled knowingly. He'd seen the bond between them instantly. Turning the subject to the soon to be married couple, he outlined his plans. Over an hour later, Maggie knew about the Triangle house, the strings Harold had pulled to have them removed to safer positions within the FBI and finally the steps to give them permanent legal recognition of their children by changing the parental information on the birth certificates. The three were inexorably woven together in Harold's mind.

Drawn back to the present, Dana and Ellen approached. 'I need you in the bathroom, please, Dana,' Margaret ordered. She'd moved twelve times in her husband's naval career, including two international relocations. Margaret Anne Scully had this down to a fine art. So far she had everything under control and going according to plan. Even the complication of a small child didn't daunt her. After all, she'd had four when they'd transferred to Japan.

'Dana do you remember Mrs Gabby?' Maggie asked, introducing the two. 'Eloise is a seamstress and has agreed to alter my wedding dress to fit you.'

'Did you get the trousseau?' Eloise asked, eagerly looking around the bathroom. Locating the exclusive boutique's carrier, she gleefully peeked inside. 'Yes, these will do nicely,' she mumbled, shoving the tissue wrapped package at Dana and requesting she put it on for the fitting.

'I hardly think I need new lingerie,' Scully intoned. Sighing, she took a look and gasped. 'I can't wear this,' she choked, turning her blue eyes to her mother.

'Dana,' Maggie sighed, 'this is a special day, requiring a special dress and the undergarments to go with it. Humour me. After all it's not every day I get to arranged my only living daughter's wedding.'

_You sure know how to give you only living daughter a guilt trip_, Scully silently scolded her mother with a caustic glare.

Taking the white satin and lace corset out, Scully glanced on it with a neutral expression. Unsure how she felt about it, Dana knew Mulder would have a wonderful time taking it off. If the kids allowed them enough time, he'd make sure the process went very slowly, teasing and tantalising her every step of the way. Suspenders hung from the bottom, so Scully tempted fate, pulling out the fine denier stocking to accompany the garment. Mulder must have put her mother up to this. After all it looked like an outfit from one of the videos she vetoed from their new house and his fantasy bridal gift. Finally upending the bag, a very tiny scrap of material fell out into her hand.

'These are panties, I guess,' Scully looked at the minuscule pile of lace. The thought of what her soon to be husband would do in the attempt to get them off, sent a shiver of delight down her spine.

'Yes,' Ellen giggled, remembering being three months pregnant and shimming into something similar, purely for the enjoyment of her new husband, 'Mulder is going to love the wedding night with you in that get up. Believe me, David almost tore mine off me.'

Raising an eyebrow, the women left, returning to find Scully in her mother's wedding dress. She didn't need to say anything, pulling at the excess of material in the middle. She knew Missy and Bill had been born two months premature and four and a half months after their parents hurried wedding. Having twins ran in the family.

'Love at first sight,' Maggie whispered into her daughters' ear with a delighted smile.

Taking a step back, she watched as Eloise made Dana twirl slowly. Nodding her head, Eloise went to work, muttering about the slight changes she'd need to make. The vintage white a perfect foil for her daughter's Irish colouring. When they placed the short veil over Dana's face, she looked a picture to her mother's eyes. Clouding with tears, Maggie couldn't contain her pleasure.

'You look beautiful,' she whispered, capturing Scully's orbs. Neither said it but both knew Ahab would have been proud.

A scream of frustration, soon turning into sobs of distress broke the moment. 'I'll go,' Maggie sighed. Someone had kindly attempted comfort her granddaughter. Sophia objected to the stranger. _Standing here admiring my only living daughter won't get this house packed up. Maybe this is the Lord's way of getting my mind back on the job at hand_, Maggie berated silently_. _

* * *

><p>Mulder completed his initial survey of the lower level before climbing the stairs of their new house. He'd barely had time to take in his surroundings. After locating the master bedroom, he decided to use the two closest rooms for their children so they'd hear them during the night. <em>If I hadn't spent so much time packing up my apartment<em>, he reprimanded silently, looking down at his watch. He'd run out time. If he didn't get a move on, Mulder knew he'd get stuck in traffic on the way back to the hospital.

Holding Caleb for the first time had proved life altering. Holding William doubly so because he almost fit into the palm of his father's hand. How this tiny scrap of humanity survived being abducted from his hospital crib before suffering several hours in the bitter cold of a Washington Winter morning didn't bear thinking about. By the time the Little Sisters of the Poor found him, he no longer had the strength to cry. By the time he'd been admitted to neo-natal unit, William's dehydration and hypothermia had reached critical levels.

Mulder couldn't wait to return to the hospital this evening for another chance to embrace his boys and capture the moment on celluloid. Locating his extremely expensive, professional quality camera had taken more time than it should have. He considered it time well spent. Tonight he'd have photographic evidence in the form of the first Mulder family portrait. Words couldn't describe the emotions that picture evoked.

Today had been full of little, private moments where is mind had wandered off into its own little world. The children's room at the Mulholland's making him realise what he had to live up to in Sophia's little hazel-green eyes. The love and dedication Sally and Joseph showed his daughter astounded and humbled Mulder. Watching William open his eyes for the first time and extending a minuscule hand out to clasp his, displaying his complete trust in his father brought tears to his eyes. Caleb, resting over his shoulder after Scully insisted he give his son a bottle so they could bond. Milk spit dripping down his pristine oxford shirt the reward. Yet Mulder couldn't have been more delighted. Finally he felt at peace.

Staring into space as Mulder's mind integrated this new family reality. No more chasing after little grey men or attempting to understand the conspiracy. Somewhere that dream had faded. The quest to establish the reason behind Samantha's abduction still remained but held less significance in the face of three living, breathing children. One day he'd continue his search for his sister, but not until the kids were older and Scully could handle them on her own.

Finally remembering why he'd come to this beautiful home, he chuckled. Along with the feeling of peace came rightness, a delight, the fulfilment of a long held secret dream. Not since Katherine's death had Mulder seen himself capable of anything remotely resembling a normal life. It took several seconds put a name to this emotion as it had been so long since Fox William Mulder had experienced it. Simply put, Mulder realised he was happy.

Taking his cell phone out of his pocket, he called Harold. Waiting for the older man to answer, Mulder's mind catalogued what he still needed to achieve this afternoon. Startlingly, it actually proved to be very little and he had Harold's behind the scenes management to thank for that.

If they intended to sleep here tonight, he needed Sophia's room set up. They could worry about the twin's nursery tomorrow before going to the hospital to collect Caleb. The unpacking could wait. Harold had organised this evening's meal, solving that problem. A maid service obviously kept the house in order as even the beds appeared to have fresh linens and the bathrooms stocked with fluffy towels.

No, apart from Sophia's room, Mulder and Scully wouldn't need to do very much tonight. Maybe tomorrow they could take some time out to just be a family. He'd like to sit by the fireplace in the living room and play with the kids on the rug covering the wooden floors. Maybe they'd take some time out to snap baby pictures, starting their family album.

'I've been expecting you,' the slightly humours words echoed down the line.

Anticipating this call, Harold and Maggie had been in constant contact since yesterday, changing plans as problems cropped up. While Harold didn't have children, Maggie had raised four and knew how demanding they could be. She'd reassured Harold that Fox and Dana were taking on too much, attempting to do too many things in a single day. As single FBI agents, they'd been used to coming and going as they pleased. With Sophia in tow and Caleb tomorrow, they have to learn to slow down their pace or the children would become cranky, letting their parents know about their distress.

'Yeah, well, I haven't got everything I wanted done,' Mulder complained half-heartedly.

'Such as?' Harold enquired, still showing his amusement.

'The beds in the two upstairs bedrooms are impossible to move,' Mulder kicked the offending furniture. 'You never mentioned they were made of solid wood, along with the chest of draws and dressing table. The truck with Scully's belongings should be here any minute and I don't have anywhere for Sophia's crib. If this isn't perfect, Scully won't be happy.'

'An unhappy Dana means you won't be able to utilise the king sized bed in the master bedroom to its full potential,' Harold responded knowingly, adding in a teasing tone, 'and you're not even married yet.'

Snorting, Mulder retorted, 'as if you didn't know Katherine almost lived at my apartment before we married.'

'Tell me what you need relocated and I'll see that it's done,' Harold offered, 'the moving company can store the furniture store in the attic. Oh,' he added knowingly, 'I asked them to reconstruct your daughter's crib. That should make your fiancée very happy.'

'For a man who's never been married, Harold,' Mulder responded ironically, 'you see to know a lot about what women want.'


	14. Chapter 14

_One door closes_, Scully silently considered the proverb, her hand absent mindedly drawing circles on her daughter's back_, another opens. Well that exactly what's occurring here._

Standing in the entry to her apartment, the home she'd owned for nine years, Scully thought about her history within these walls. Taking up the FBI's offer of employment, Dana decided the time had come to purchase a place of her own. The very first moment she walked through the door, something about this particular space connected with her psyche. Months of training at Quantico on a reduced wage, along with medical school loan payments and travel expenses hadn't left much in the budget after the mortgage. A hand me down couch, a dining table accompanied by three completely different chairs from a second hand shop and borrowed bed the sum total of her original furniture.

By the time she'd become involved with Mulder and the X-files, Scully had managed to make the apartment into a home. Slowly, one purchase at a time, the space had come to reflect the personality of its owner. A lick of paint, a souvenir brought during a weekend away, a piece of art gracing the walls turned this place into a comfortable home. Now nothing remained on either horizontal or vertical surfaces. Margaret Scully's team of movers had seen to every little detail, leaving the apartment devoid of personality and striped of any hint of warmth. Dana Scully's knick knacks, her carefully selected items had been packed away, locked into cardboard boxes and bound for a new destination. Dust covers hid furniture from the elements, eagerly awaiting a new location or owner, depending on her choice.

'Do we keep this apartment and rent it,' Scully asked the silent interior, 'or sell it? Either way I get the feeling I'll never be back. This chapter of my life is about to close. You know what baby-girl, I'm not sorry at all, now I have my new family.'

Sophia in one arm, her handbag and the dipper bag slung over the other shoulder, Scully closed the door on her old existence, placing it firmly in the past. Taking a fortifying breath, Dana prepared to face the future. Dr Dana Katherine Scully's personal possessions, the sense of who she'd been, lay loaded in the back of a moving van. Her life sped towards the future, toward the house in Triangle. Much of it she wouldn't bother to unpack until they knew what the future held and where they'd live it. Unsure about her future as Mrs Fox Mulder, Scully had only ever dreamt of becoming a mother of three and for at least the next year at least, a housewife.

'Some dreams, it seems, really do come true,' Scully cooed as she strapped Sophia into her car seat. 'I wonder how you feel about moving to the Oceanside, baby-girl. Mommy grew up by the sea with her brothers and sister. Maybe in the future, Daddy and I'll think about giving you a little sister. I think we have enough to cope with at the moment though.'

Letting out a yawn, the Sophia made a noise Dana had come to associate with hunger fighting fatigue. Reaching into the dipper bag, Scully produced a bowl of fruit cut into small finger sized pieces and a baby rusk. Immediately the child's green eyes followed the food as her hand reached for the container. While Scully's existence became a constant in Sophia's life and provided for all her needs, the child still had a long way to go to form the intense trusting bond she's instantly established with her father.

'Goo, um ma ma ma,' the sounds followed by a happy giggly scream meaning _I'm excited you've anticipated my needs because I'm sooooo hungry._

By the time Scully guided Mulder's car away from the curve, Sophia had melon covering her face and hands. That finished, she started on the rusk. Munching happily, she made little comforting, all be it sleepy, noises at her mother. Watching in the rear view mirror, Scully couldn't help the contented smile covering her lips. Her daughter really was adorable, even if she still preferred her father's company. _I can understand the attraction_, Scully allowed an internal laugh, thinking about Mulder's assets, now she knew them intimately.

Pulling into a parking space at the hospital, the child succumbed to a much needed short nap after yet another busy day. Scully knew they needed to slow down. Sophia couldn't keep this schedule indefinitely. Children, Dana remembered from her medical school days, needed routine and familiarity. Sophia needed it more than most given the massive emotional upheavals in her life over the last week. They still had so much to achieve in the next few days.

Sophia, only just coming to terms with the changes in her caregivers had been happy to cling to her "new" parents for comfort so far. That would soon end as she gained confidence in Mulder and Scully being a permanent fixture in her life. Soon she'd want to start exploring her new environment.

'That is,' Scully rolled her eyes, 'when your daddy and I get the opportunity to settle in a house of our own and all this nasty paperwork out of the way. Maybe then we can create a routine for you and your brothers. I know it'll make you feel much safer, so we can start to work on your separation anxiety. Mommy just wants a happy, contented little girl.'

Managing to wash Sophia's face with a wipe before transferring her still sleeping daughter into the sling, Scully'd learnt the hazards of waking this particular child before she'd gained the required amount of sleep.

'I don't know where you get that from,' Scully whispered, walking across the parking lot and into the hospital, 'your daddy survives on three to four hours a night, while medical school taught your mommy to do without. I guess, like me, you can fall asleep anywhere. I just hope your brothers don't inherit Daddy's insomnia. Mommy will go insane if they have. Three men in the family who don't sleep will just be too much for me to cope with!'

Mulder watched the two women in his life saunter up the walk. Scully's head a hairsbreadth away from Sophia's the entire way. Whispering and kissing the crown of silky baby locks poking over the carrier, he'd been mesmerised at the picture. Taking his camera, Mulder snapped several shots, knowing they'd become some of his favourites. Lying in wait, Mulder gave his photographic memory the opportunity to carefully study every nuisance. Leaning in when Scully finally noticed him, he couldn't resist taking Dana's lips with a soul searing kiss.

'Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, Scully,' Mulder surprised his partner.

'I'm marrying you on Friday,' Scully retorted, pulling him along the corridor towards the NICU, 'that should require a psych evaluation at the very least. My brother's both think I've gone stark raving mad.'

Laughing, Mulder escorted his fiancée into the waiting area. 'I can understand Bill feeling that way, but Charlie,' he teased, 'I've never met your brother. You know, Scully, I'm beginning to thing you've all made him up.'

Reaching the waiting area for the NICU, Mulder went directly to the intercom. Pushing the buzzer, he requested, 'William and Caleb Mulder, please.'

'Come on through,' a bubbly voice stated, 'you're just in time to feed your boys.'

'William,' Scully rushed to the humidicrib. The tiny baby, wrapped in one of his new blankets, lay in the arms of his nurse. Dressed in the sky blue six "0" romper Maggie had managed to purchase from a preemie baby shop, the baby no longer looked so tiny.

'He's come on in leaps and bounds since this morning,' Corral smiled warmly, handing the little boy into his father's eager arms and forcing Mulder to sit in the feeding chair. 'We've just removed his nasogastric tube because he's taken to the bottle so well. If he keeps this up, you might be able to take him home by the end of the week.'

'I'd like get him home in time for our wedding on Friday,' Mulder looked hopefully up at the nurse before turning his hazel gaze on Scully. 'I want all our family together on that day.'

They shared an intensely private moment. Connecting through their gaze, Mulder's hopes and wishes communicated themselves to Scully. Her own recent epiphany openly displayed for Mulder to read. Euphoric smiles broke out as Mulder and Scully finally realised they were on the same page.

'How much are you feeding him,' Scully asked. Her attention caught by bottles in the warmer. Concerned by the amount of liquid in the bottles between the boy's beds, Dana attempted to remember how much preterm infants required. It didn't seem enough for Caleb and far too much for William.

'Would you believe he's already up to one and a half ounces,' Corral sounded surprised, holding up the container with the very slightly smaller amount of milk. 'It's no wonder he's gaining weight rapidly and is managing to regulate his own body temperature. We're going to have switch William to formula before he's discharged. Caleb made the transition easily, so I'm hoping it'll be as effortless with his brother.'

Mulder looked over to Scully, his expression asking what the nurse meant. Laying a hand on the top of her son's head, she smiled delightedly. That look alone answered his query.

'It's very good,' Scully sounded overcome with emotion. 'Most full term babies commence on two ounce feeds. Caleb's already taking that amount each feed and managing to keep it down. We need to get some formula before taking him home tomorrow.'

'I'll write the name down for you so you can continue using the same brand, if you'd like,' Corral smiled. 'William's not far behind his brother. I think the turning point came this morning,' she added, taking Caleb from his crib. No longer needing a specialised cot, his bed looked less like something from a science fiction movie and more like the contraption Scully had brought for their home. 'Bringing in the sheet, smelling his parent's continuously, has given both your boys comfort. We're considering placing them in the same crib tonight. It'll aid William to self-regulate his body temperature. Then he'll be another step closer to coming home.'

'I wanted to keep them in our room,' Scully explained, stroking Caleb's downy hair, 'in the same crib for the first month or so. After that, we'll see.'

'We can't wait to get them home,' Mulder added. His eyes didn't look up from his son's cherubic face. Teat in his mouth, William sucked down the liquid with a satisfied expression.

'Wait until you have them both home,' Corral couldn't help the giggle that escaped. 'My twins are fifteen now, but I still remember trying to feed them together. Speaking of which, can I show you how to feed two at the same time. It's a skill you're both going to have to learn with another small child.'

Mulder's head snapped up, panic face firmly set. 'What do you mean?' he croaked.

'You have two boys, Mr Mulder,' Corral and the other nurse hadn't been able to come to terms with using the man's surname in isolation. 'Believe me, they're going to learn to cry in tandem, want feeding in tandem, need dipper changes in tandem but not sleep at the same time. It'll be fine while you're both on parental leave. Once one of you returns to work, the other will have to cope alone with three small children. Believe me, it's not easy.'

'How can you hold two babies,' Mulder wondered, an astounded expression covering his face, 'and hold their bottles at the same time?'

Picking up a strange looking pillow, Corral said, 'tadar! How about we attempt feeding Caleb as well as William,' Corral asked, eyeing Sophia sleeping soundly in the harness on her mother's chest.

'Scully,' Mulder pleaded.

'Give the feeding pillow a try,' Dana encouraged with an enigmatic smile, wondering how the contraption worked. It didn't take long to find out as Caleb chose that moment to sense his twins' contentment, as well as the emptiness of his own stomach and let out a howl.

Corral took the opportunity to insert the pillow. Moving William into position without taking the teat from his mouth, she cooed, 'don't take that out of his mouth. You'll have a job getting it back in. This little one doesn't like his feed interrupted. He cries so hard you won't have an opportunity to convince him you're going to continue.' Repositioning Mulder's hand so he could both hold the smaller twin safely and continue his feed, Corral lay Caleb under his father's other arm. Placing the second bottle in Mulder's hand, the nurse encouraged him to start. 'Now, Caleb here,' she stroked his forehead, 'is much more passive. He'll fuss if you take his bottle away, but he'll continue drinking the moment it gets near his mouth.'

Saddened the nurses looking after their son's knew more about their personalities, Scully watched Mulder handle the twin's feeding. _Soon_, she promised, _soon Mulder and I will be the experts on our son's. We'll be the one's telling our family and friends about the differences we see in our children's developing personality. They'll live with us. Oh, that's actually a terrifying thought. We'll have to manage night feedings, sleep deprivation, the reality of living under the same roof. _

Mulder looked up at that instant, expecting his fiancée to make some teasing comment about his technique. He'd decided to be very pleased with himself being able to handle feeding both boys. Yet he read only concern in Scully's blue eyes. It took another moment of silent communication to realise what lay behind her panic. He watched as her expression change as Scully analysed the situation.

'We'll make it work,' he whispered.

'We always have,' Scully returned, leaning in to give him the lightest of kisses.

Sophia's fearful cry interrupted their unique form of communication. Clinging to Scully, she looked around wildly. This place, the smells, sights and sounds so different from those which lulled her to sleep terrified her. It took several second for Sophia to realise the arms wrapped around her presented safety.

'Sophia wakes just like you,' Scully quipped evenly, 'suddenly and completely alert to her surroundings.'

'One night in the same bed qualifies you to make that comparison, Scully,' Mulder returned, happy to be on a safer topic.

'Eighth of March 1992, Mulder,' Scully allowed her eyebrow to reach for the sky while keeping her voice level, 'I spent my first night in your bed on the 8th of March 1992.'

'I remember,' Mulder allowed a seductive tone to enter is voice. His eye hooded and filled with passion, 'oh how I remember.'

_If those eyes could talk_, Scully shivered, _I know exactly what they'd say_.

Scully had been so green. Belfour, their first field assignment on the X file and Dr Dana Katherine Scully had been sent to rein Mulder in and shut down the division through her beliefs in ridge scientific dogma. Yet that first night, after seeing the marks on the teenagers who'd mysteriously died, she tumbled into his hotel room. Terror griped Scully as she demanded he look at her exposed body. He'd taken his sweet time before declaring them just mosquito bites. Never in her life had all her rational thought processes flown out the window. She'd thrown herself into his arms, extracting the comfort she'd needed, expected to find there. Then again, Mulder had challenged the very basis of scientific world on which she built her personal ethics and morality.

He'd fought attraction from the moment he'd set eyes on Scully. He'd been aware of the reason for her sudden assignment, her ridge scientific training, yet her similarity to his first wife had drawn Mulder attention and unwittingly his interest. Not wanting the distraction, he deliberately and systematically belittled Special Agent Scully during their initial encounter. Instead of being intimidated, she'd stood up to his unique brand of sarcasm, determined to demonstrate her tenacity. It'd turned him on faster than expected and Mulder had to work hard to hide his both is respect and attraction.

Wondering how deliberately calculated the move to find a woman resembling Katherine in name and appearance, Mulder couldn't dismiss her terror during their first assignment together. Instinctively understanding something subtle changed and moved between them. They'd formed a trusting bond. Scully lay on his bed in crumby, rundown hotel room, listening to his tale of Samantha's abduction. Even then, when he tried to explain how dangerous this assignment would be, Scully refused to leave. Mulder believe that to be the moment he knew he'd fallen head over heal in love with this woman. Everything that came after, cementing the feelings in his heart. He'd learnt to hide the truth from Scully, even going to far as to expel her from his life the first time the X files had been closed. Concealing his feeling in a keepsake box, Mulder collected any memento, any object that could be labelled "romantic" in their relationship. He took them out often, even though is eidetic memory didn't need the physical proof.

'I'm glad I collected those little things,' he mumbled to his son's, 'because it finally made you mommy realise how much I care for her and brought her too me. Soon we'll take you home and all live together.'

'Happily ever after,' Scully whispered into his ear.

'Isn't this a fairy tale, Scully,' Mulder mocked, a serious undertone lacing his words.

'I'm beginning to believe it just might be,' she returned with a thousand watt smile. It said I love you in the only way they ever had, without words.

* * *

><p>I went to my friend, who has twin girls and asked for some tales about their early life. Thank you for sharing J, because they made this chapter happen. I also have more material for later chapters, when the boys are older. So this may not end in the 3-4 chapters I envisioned. I hope that's OK with you!<p>

After such a long hatus on this story, I'd love our feedback.


	15. Chapter 15

I've always wondered what growing up in the Mulder house entails. Well, we get a glimpse this chapter. I'd planed this a long time ago but these characters just want the story told a little differently from my ideas. So here goes.

* * *

><p>'She's impossible,' Mulder whined above the screaming, pulling his Taurus into the driveway of their temporary home. The horrendous sound started ten minutes into the half an hour journey with the tone and timber increasing in proportion to the distance they travelled.<p>

'Mulder,' Scully rolled her eyes heaven ward in exasperation. She needed to shout in order to get above the noise coming from the back seat. 'Think about what she's been through today. First we drag our daughter off to the hospital, get cornered into a twenty minute meeting about paying the boy's medical expenses. Then the relator's office followed by going to the only place Sophia remembers as home. After her emotional breakdown, it's another hour in the car only to return to the hospital for a second time. At my apartment, so Sophia didn't get in the way, Mom cooped her up in a play pen. She screamed blue murder when she realised both mom and I weren't in the room and took almost an hour to calm down. Thankfully she slept thought most of the third visit to the hospital only to be dragged to Harold's for dinner. It's nine O'clock at night and finally we've brought her home, to yet another new environment. She needs time to adjust.'

'So we've got to put up with this for how much longer,' Mulder sounded like a child, placing his hands over his ears after turning the ignition off.

'As long as it takes to calm Sophia down and make her feel secure,' Scully stated, annoyed at Mulder's unhelpful attitude and distressed by her daughters cries.

Climbing out of the car, Dana started to unbuckle the screaming child. Her red face covered in fresh tear tracks, Sophia fought her mother all the way. Kicking out, Scully managed to avoid contact with her tiny feet but not her teeth. Stifling a caustic retort, Dana glared at her daughter. It took several seconds to calm down sufficiently to chastise the little girl.

'No,' Scully stated firmly, waving a finger at Sophia, 'that hurt Mommy.'

Making matters worse, Sophia made hand motions in the direction of her father. Something in the back of Scully mind finally slid into place. The eleven month old had bitten because Mulder and Scully didn't understand sign language. She'd been attempting to communicate with them for days, only the adults missed her cues. Finally understanding, Sophia made her wishes clear to an emotionally distraught and tired Scully.

'Sophia loves her bath,' Scully sighed, wondering where she'd find the time to lean baby sign. 'Maybe that will help. Why don't you take her up stairs as she prefers your company anyway and put her in the tub. I'll go and…'

'You're her mother, Scully,' Mulder interrupted, his hand now running through his rumpled hair as he made his way to the internal door. It opened directly into the kitchen from the garage.

If Scully looked up, she might have understood they shared the anguish one little girl's shrieks generated. Not used to the calamity, Mulder felt helpless, able to understand why his daughter sobbed but powerless to stop it. Instead, in a deadly voice, Scully retorted, 'and you're her father, Mulder. I expect you to act like it.'

'Fine,' he all but snatched Sophia from her mother's arms as Scully tried to brush past into the house. The sudden, almost violent movement stoped the child's tears, momentary. When they recommenced, the timber intensified clearly displaying her terror. Sophia attempted to push away from her father, forcing him to hold her tighter or she'd slip through his grasp. The developing bond in danger of disintegrating, Mulder missed the subtle change in the child's crying and continued to carry Sophia up the stairs.

'Mulder,' Scully yelled from the bottom of the staircase, frustrated and angry.

If he heard, he ignored her. A door slammed, water could be heard running, Sophia's cries grew feeble and Dana swore softly under her breath realising how close to the edge they'd come to an emotional breakdown.

_We're taking too much on_, Scully internalised, trying to mentally rearrange their schedule over the next few days. _Impossible_, she realized, _Mom and Harold have already done so much for us. I can ask for any more assistance. Mulder and I have become so socially isolated, we don't have close friends to call on in situations like this. Who am I trying to kid, no one except the two of us wind up in situations like this?_

Taking a long slow inspiration, Scully attempted to calm her mind. Setting her shoulders, she mounted the steps slowly, deliberately taking each one. At the top she took the time to look at the upper story.

_It's as beautiful as the pictures_, Scully's hand touched the embossed wall paper in the hall. Her fingers lingered on the antique occasional table in the upstairs foyer, the mirror above it reflecting the ever darkening circle under her eyes and the dullness within her blue orbs. _I look as tired as I feel_, Dana attempted to smile.

Locating Sophia's room, she noticed Mulder had set it up as they discussed the night before. It appeared perfect. Sally's home crafted quilt and teddies a perfect foil for the white cot in one corner ready for a sleepy child. Dippers lined up under the change table with wipes and creams in easy reach. The mobile hanging above the change station for their daughter to play with while getting her bottom attended too. He'd thought of everything to make Sophia and Scully's entry into this house, their new home, delightful.

'Mulder,' Scully hissed under her breath. He'd been responsible for this, letting his actions demonstrate his feeling.

Unhappy the previous scene occurred, Dana understood how hard Mulder worked this afternoon to reveal his emotions to his new family. Like so many men, he did rather than said to show his caring side. He'd set up Sophia's room for both Scully and his daughter, because he loved them and he wanted their homecoming to be perfect. The argument in the car had been born out of shear frustration. It taught Scully a valuable lesion.

A similar lesson Mulder unwittingly arranged at Harold's earlier this evening. The jeweller presented Scully with several designs for a new wedding set. Knowing her taste, he vetoed most of the sketches, singling one out. She'd looked down at the ring already gracing her finger, wondering why he insisted on replacing it, even if she did consider the new design perfect.

'In my humble opinion, your unique, Scully and our promise to each other should reflect that. To others you might appear petite and delicate,' Mulder explained, taking her hand and kissing the knuckle containing the family heirloom, 'but you have an incredible internal strength, enough that it also sustains me. My Mother's ring would never be good enough of you. It's flashy and almost big enough to be considered gaudy. I thought we'd have a paper marriage in order to get legal custody of our children. My Mothers ring might have been enough then.'

'But not now,' Scully finished for him, the revelation startling her. 'You never wanted a paper marriage, did you?' astounded the question issued from Scully's mouth.

Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, Dana had expected this of Mulder after reading the note he'd left with the Gunmen. She'd expected little more than a convenient partnership for the sake of their children. While cleaning out his apartment, attempting to make their lives appear more entwined, her view of world changed. Finding that box, the truth's Mulder hid her from her had been a revelation, bringing with it the realisation a relationship between them just might work. It allowed her heart to hope as she'd rarely allowed it to hope.

A shake of Mulder's head her only answer. However the look in his eye's told her all she needed to know. Fox William Mulder had yearned, given the tie of three children, that they might turn their marriage into something meaningful and real.

'After last night, it'd never be enough for the relationship we now have,' he agreed.

Peeking into the bathroom, Scully reflection showed her surprise. Neither Mulder nor Sophia inhabited the room. The baby bath stood empty, bottles of bubbles unopened and toys still lined up on the shelf. Like their daughters' room, this room stood ready for the family Mulder expected to love and complete him.

Following the noise creeping down the hallway, Dana opened a door at the end of the corridor. It exposed the master bedroom. _Opulent_, she thought. Astounded by the luxurious setting, Scully stood opened mouth, gawking at the space. A king bed took a small portion of the floor space. A small, private conversation area graced one side of the room allowing a view down to the Potomac through a plate glass picture window. His and hers walk in robes on the other wall, currently awaiting the boxes blocking the entry to be unpacked. Noticing steam billowing out of a doorway, Scully went to investigate the en-suite bathroom.

What she witnessed almost broke her heart. Mulder stood under the stream of water in the shower, fully clothed, clutching his naked, tiny little girl to his chest.

'Daddy's sorry, baby,' he cooed over and over, unaware Scully had entered and stood watching the spectacle. Slowly, with the repetitively, softly spoken words, Sophia's cries slowed and her eyes grew heavy.

'I'm never going to frighten you like that again,' he finally broke the litany to make the heartfelt promise to the sleeping baby, 'not like my daddy did me or my sister. I'm going to be the best daddy you could ever have.'

Unable to stand by any longer, Scully opened the door to the cubical and stepped in. Arms encircling Mulder's waist, Dana brought their bodies into contact. Soaking wet suits formed a barrier between them. Hating the obstruction, Scully's fingers began to unbutton Mulder's shirt. His hand covered hers, thwarting her efforts.

Turning to face his lover, Mulder moulded them together. Lowering his head, resting his chin of Scully's wet hair, he sighed heavily. 'I'm sorry I should have told you about my abusive childhood long ago. I don't want it to affect us or our relationship with our children.'

'I'm sorry too,' she spoke slowly, deliberately, her voice muffled by his chest. 'I can't bear to hear her so upset, Mulder. I've waited so long to be a mother and it does something to me every time I hear her cry. I can't help feeling like a failure. I should be able to sooth all her hurts and keep her safe.'

'She's my daughter too,' Mulder added mournfully, 'and I need to act like her father, not like mine. I can't believe how so much noise can come from one small body so continuously and how it affected me. I felt helpless, powerless, just like I did as a child with my father. It brought back so many memories, Scully. Instead of learning from the experience I acted the same way my father would have. I don't want to be like him.'

'You won't,' she soothed. 'Let me get out of these clothes, dried and dressed for bed. I'll take Sophia and get her ready while you finish up.'

'Can we all sleep together in the big bed tonight,' moving his head to look down on Scully with his kicked puppy expression, Mulder knew the moment she gave in.

'I want the whole story,' Scully demanded the major concession, unrelenting until she had his consent.

'He never hit me or Samantha, Scully,' his voice filled with pain. Mulder lay on his side, facing his fiancée, resting his head on the palm of one hand. The other played with the curl lying on the sleeping child's forehead between them. His touch so gentle, it bought tears to Scully's eyes, tears she didn't dare shed. 'Dad's always been too clever to leave physical evidence. Besides, by the time I turned ten, I would have been big and strong enough to hit back. I guess that's why he never let the abuse become physical. He specialised in subtle emotional and mental torture. It's not as easily seen and could be hidden when in company.'

'No one knew?' Scully asked astounded.

'No,' Mulder offered a self-recriminating smile. Now he'd started, Mulder couldn't stop the words falling. He needed to tell someone, he'd need to talk about it for a long time. He'd never found the right person, one to understand him as well has Scully. 'I never told Katherine. Somehow it never came up because we were in a happier place when we began our marriage. I hadn't really started my search, my obsession with Samantha's abduction. I tried too hard to be normal. Falling the way I did for my first wife, we didn't discuss children or parenting. I thought we had time to come to terms with my childhood before planning a family.'

'Mom and Dad got married in a registry office against the express wishes of both sets of parents, Scully,' Mulder continued, his eyes glued to Sophia as she slept soundly. Little snuffling snores telling her parents she'd sleep thought almost anything, given how tired the day left her. 'Late May 1961, without any witnesses and my birthdays in October the same year.'

'Missy and Bill were conceived out of wedlock,' Scully spoke softly, 'it happened in the sixties.'

'The difference is your parents married because they came together with love,' Mulder argued.

'I gather yours didn't,' Scully prompted.

'I called Bill Mulder my father but I've always had doubts,' Mulder sounded confused. 'As a child I wondered why he treated Samantha and I differently. From the day my sister came into the world, he called her princess. He spent time with Samantha, granted her every wish, gave her affection and showed interest in all her activities. She only had to ask and he'd be there for her. Dance recitals, school assemblies, anything she became involved in, Dad would make the time.'

'You, Mulder,' Scully asked into the threatening silence, 'how did he treat you?'

'With contempt and distain,' he continued to look at his daughter as the memories piled up, one on top of the next. 'I had to be so careful around my sister. Show the slightest emotion towards her and it'd earn his wrath. Show to much interest and he'd become enraged, verbally berating me at the first opportunity he could get. I didn't mind so much when he caught me alone, but the times he belittle my behaviour or intelligence in the presence of other people, it's devastating to a child. Other parents seemed to ignore it or pass it off. That hurt worse. It all came back to bite him on the ass the night Sam disappeared. I never told you, but Mom had to convince dad to leave Samantha home. He wanted to take her with them. I remember him saying he couldn't trust me.'

'The folder in that vault,' Scully's shocked voice said she'd made the connection.

'Whatever he did, they took her instead,' Mulder finally looked up into Scully understanding blue orbs. 'I think dad always planned for me to be the one. His carefully orchestrated web fell apart that night. Whispers started about him and the relationship towards Samantha with awful undertones. He tried to blame me for my sister's disappearance and deflect the police in my direction. By then, too many people had seen the difference in the way he treated his children. They began to suspect abuse.'

'What about your mother,' Scully asked.

'I think she knew a lot more than she ever said,' Mulder confessed. 'The night I returned from the dead, after dad's funeral, I confronted her. She told me he asked her to make a choice and she hated him for it. Their marriage ended not long after Samantha's birth, her abduction the last straw. They'd led separate lives, only keeping up appearances for the neighbours. I never saw any conformation, but I suspect dads abuse didn't stop with me.'

'Just after I turned eight, I started to question. Why I have such a distinct nose, why the colour of my eyes are hazel not blue like the rest of the family, why my physical and intellectual features didn't seem to fit my genetics. Mom clammed up, refusing to answer while dad just gave me this strange, sardonic smile. Dad came straight to the point after Samantha's abduction, he'd never been sure if I belonged to him or the other married guy my mother had been spending a lot of time with.'

'Mulder,' Scully said, so softly he almost missed the pain she felt for him. The word became a conformation, she'd heard every word and experienced the emotions as though her own.

'It only occurred to me, who the man might be when I saw those pictures of Mom with the Smoking SOB at the Quonochontaug house,' Mulder added in a depressed tone.

'Mulder,' once again Dana expressed her emotions with a single word.

'I've wanted to do a DNA test for years,' he confessed. 'I even went so far as to have material extracted from one of his cigarette buts. I've never had the courage to get the lab to run it.'

'I'd have done it for you,' Scully offered.

'I know Scully,' looking away, she knew there had to be a very good reason why Mulder had procrastinated, 'but after the offer he made to me the night I though your cancer would take you away from me…'

'What offer Mulder?' Dana asked, realising the importance of the night he came to her death bed. _We express so much with our eyes but say so little. There are things we should have talked about but just push aside because think we understand the other so well. I'm beginning to realise I only know the parts of this man he allows me to see and I do the same._

Taking a deep sigh, Mulder told her everything she'd been too sick to cope with at the time. Now Scully understood the silent tears of devastation, the loss of hope as he traded her life for the possibility of knowing his sister.

'As much as finding my sister means to me,' the passion in his hazel orbs bespoke the utter truth, 'you've meant more, almost from the beginning.'

Scully remembered the time on the bridge. Mulder had exchanged his sister's life for hers. 'How many times have you given up the chance to find Samantha?'

'More than I'd like to count,' Mulder confessed, 'but not as many as I would if it lead to this very moment, Scully. I have you and our children. Right now that's all I want and need.'


	16. Chapter 16

Sophia stirred between them, breaking the intensely intimate moment. A rare but brilliant smile graced Scully's features as she looked at the peacefully slumbering child. 'I think it's time someone went into their own bed,' she spoke quietly, kissing the smooth forehead.

'I thought we'd decided to all sleep in the big bed tonight,' Mulder pouted, wondering what had changed his fiancées mind.

'Ever hear of makeup sex,' Scully allowed her eyebrow a suggestive movement as her blue eyes twinkled with mischief.

'Technically we didn't have a fight,' Mulder retorted, torn between the two females lying beside him. While he wanted to be close to his daughter after the scare he'd given her this evening, the promise of passion with Scully couldn't be passed up easily. 'More like a discussion after a critical incident.'

'Your loss,' Scully turned onto her back.

'I don't want sex tonight, Dana,' he'd managed to stop her hand from turning out the bedside lamp. The declaration, along with the use of her Christian name, froze Scully mid-action. 'I want to make love to the woman I care more about than anyone else in this world, the only person who ever took the time to know me. You're my one in five billion, my touchstone, the woman who makes me a whole person by keeping my integrity and obsessive passion in check. You keep my feet firmly on the ground, giving me a human credential, Scully. I think after all that's happened in the last hour, we need to connect on more than just a physical level. I want more than your body. I want everything you have to give. I need you.'

Astounded, Scully found it difficult to swallow as the minutes ticked by. Nodding, she finally found her voice, glad Mulder had given her the time to analyse what he really wanted and the time to make her mind up. 'You'd better lose the clothing after laying Sophia in her crib.'

Reaching over the top of the sleeping child, Mulder cupped Scully's cheek in the palm of his hand. Ever so gently he allowed his thumb to trace the dark circle under her left eye. 'You're sure about this,' he asked in the tenderest tone she ever heard him use. 'You look exhausted and I intend to take this slowly, agonisingly slowly, Scully. I want to give you everything in my power. I need to expose all of me to you. I don't intend to hold back anything.'

A shiver ran the length of her spine. She knew the depths of his passion, had stood by his obsessive pursuit of the truth. To find out she'd become his constant, the focus and foundation of his life astonished Scully. Blue clashed with hazel as a conversation occurred in a millisecond. On the same page, both knew their desire would know no bound tonight. Unspoken, they took their vows of honesty, fidelity and monogamy, treating this as their wedding night, the start of their new life together.

'I'll be back in a couple of minutes,' Mulder delicately picked up the sleeping baby, before laying a tender kiss on Scully's lips, 'lose the PJ's while I'm gone. You're overdressed for this party, soon to be Mrs Mulder.'

'Scully, Mulder,' she smiled, calling to his retreating backside, 'always Scully.'

What follow his return would live in both their memories, fused into each neuron, indelibly written in each sense. Each touch betrayed an honesty they'd long held to themselves, too afraid to express openly. Each taste illuminated a deep seated need, a need for the other they'd kept at bay through the long years of their partnership. Each smell reminding them they'd shared so many life threatening situations, the stench of fear binding them. Each sight a revelation, proclaiming their long held desire to keep the other close by shutting everyone else out with a glance. Each sound heightening their indelibly entwined souls until neither could say where one started and the other ended. The passion, the desire, the emotion they expended, finally sated both felt the need to be connected at the level of their soul.

Exhausted beyond her reserved, Mulder pulled Scully to his side of the bed, avoiding the physical evidence of their amalgamation. He'd almost joined her in slumber when he heard the soft cry. Covering his eyes with a hand, he prepared to get up before Sophia woke Scully.

'You're getting that, aren't you?' Dana mumbled, unable to move.

'And lose the chance to have two females in my bed for the night,' Mulder used sarcasm to hide the level of his own fatigue. Pulling his aching body from the warmth of Scully's and the blankets, Mulder quickly padded into Sophia room. 'Hey baby, did you wake all alone,' he whispered, scooping the child into his arms, kissing her. He'd managed to capture her distress before she woke completely. Just the warmth of her father's arms enough to lull Sophia back to sleep. 'Daddy just had some things he had to do with Mommy. We're all good now, sorted. You and your brother's don't need to worry that Daddy will ever be anything like the man who raised him. You don't know it yet, but your real, biological Mommy is my saving grace and yours. You have the very best Mommy in the world and don't you ever forget it little lady. I hope you turn out just like her.'

Barely managing to keep herself awake, Scully smiled as she listened to the last of Mulder's dialogue. Placing Sophia in her arms, he climbed into bed. Spooning her body, his breath tickled her ear.

'You were meant to hear most of that Scully, so don't pretend to be asleep,' he kissed her, lay back on his pillow and promptly fell into the most restful slumber of his life.

'I didn't get the chance to tell you last night, Mulder,' Scully turned her head to witness Mulder coming down the steps. Taking a seat at the breakfast bar, he lifted a hand to the plate of pancakes before him. After their cathartic discussion and the lovemaking that followed, his stomach screamed for sustenance this morning. 'Our daughter baby signs,' she finished, hitting his hand with the spatula.

'Yeah,' Mulder smiled sheepishly, making several gestures to the child in her high chair watching Scully cook, 'I know.'

'You baby sign,' she returned, astounded. As the bottom of the last packet mix pancake caught on the pan, Scully rescued it.

'Child psychology at Oxford isn't a completely academic subject,' he continued to 'talk" to Sophia with his hands, allowing him to keep them away from the delicious smelling food, 'most of the kids in the group home came from abusive backgrounds. Teaching sign developed trust.' Shrugging, 'besides, with a photographic memory, it didn't take much to learn.'

'You never cease to amaze me, Mulder,' Scully allowed her eyebrow to quirk above her left eye, 'you just keep opening up like a flower.'

'Sophia's hungry,' demonstrating the "word" to Scully, he continued to decipher her conversation, 'and wants milk. Why the packet mix, you usually make everything from scratch.'

'I would've if I'd had the ingredients,' she looked accusingly at him, 'I had planned to go grocery shopping after work yesterday. Once again you put us in the middle of something, upsetting my plans.'

'You telling me you're unhappy with the current situation,' Mulder teased.

'Do I look unhappy,' Scully returned with a smirk. 'I can hardly make anything from scratch when I'm not sure which box contains the flour. I'll unpack the kitchen today, hopefully. As for you, young lady, good food before filling your empty tummy with milk,' Scully held the child up to her eye level and spoke firmly. Sophia answered by pointing to her father. 'He's not going to give into your demand either.'

'Not worth my life,' he kidded, 'you mom has a gun and knows how to use it. Just ask my left shoulder.'

'Mulder,' Scully scolded.

'I'll go light the fire in the living room,' he offered, hopping off the stool.

'Do you even know how?' Scully taunted. Half amused he wanted to do something so domestic and half annoyed because she'd just finished making breakfast.

'Ye of little faith, Scully,' he mocked in return, watching her face. He saw the rapid expressions flitter across and read them correctly. 'I thought we could take our breakfast into the living room and eat on the rug in front of the fire.'

'We eat at the table in this house,' Scully remonstrated, pointing her spatula towards the meals room furniture.

'It's six in the morning,' Mulder tapped his watch. 'I'd like to spend some family time with Sophia before we add another little person into the mix. It'll be our special time until we have to go to the hospital. We need this, especially after last night, Scully. Sophia needs as much of our attention as we can give her before bringing Caleb home. It's going to confuse her, having to share our time and attention.'

'You're starting bad habits,' she warned.

'I'm insisting we bring some family traditions into our life,' Mulder's tone took on a serious tilt, 'like picnicking in the living room every Saturday morning during winter, so the whole family gets to spend quality time together. Scully I never had the safe, happy family you did and I want our kids to experience that kind of childhood, the one that will live in their memories forever.'

'You get sole control over the fire,' Scully tapped her foot, only half teasing. While the idea appealed, she wondered if Mulder knew the amount of work involved. 'That means keeping the fire going, cleaning up the ashes and resetting the logs. Not to mention hiring a chimney sweep yearly to clean the flue. I don't want soot on the living room furniture, especially as I can only guess how much it cost Harold.'

'Just after my twelfth birthday, mom and I moved into a new house,' he explained. They knew so much about each other and yet very little. Mulder realised they both had to open up if this relationship had any chance of surviving. 'She expected me to be the man of the house with three fire places. When entertaining, Mom demanded them all to be ready for service.'

'You trying to tell me you actually know what you're doing,' the famous eyebrow rose.

With a grunt, Mulder marched into the living room. Two minutes later he returned for Sophia, carrying a bowel of baby cereal in one hand and his daughter in the other. In the living room the fire gave off heat and light, making the space seem intimate and cosy. While not yet roaring, the larger logs had started their long, slow burn.

'Just how,' Scully asked, following behind with their breakfast on a tray. She added two cups of steaming coffee, unable to confess the feeling of perfection on entering the living room, 'do you think you're going to feed her?'

'Watch and learn, Scully, watch and learn,' he sounded determined.

Taking a seat on the sofa, Mulder balanced his daughter on one knee. Arm behind her back, he used the hand to scoop porridge from her bowel. Holding the crockery firmly in the other hand, he managed to get the spoon to her mouth. It lasted until Sophia decided she'd had enough to eat and spat a mouthful in her father's direction, liberally covering his grey sweat shirt with white goo. Scully couldn't help the laugh that escaped, along with half a mouthful of pancake coved in maple syrup, directed at Mulder's pant leg.

'Great,' Mulder made fun of his girls, 'neither of you can be trusted with your breakfast. Do I need to hand feed you too, Scully?'

'You'd better get your share before they go cold,' she returned, amused. 'I'll clean up Sophia and then we can all cuddle up together on the rug.'

Not willing to be far away from his girls, Mulder scoffed breakfast and carried the tray into the kitchen. They really had a lot of unpacking to do if they were to transform Harold's house into their home. While Mulder believed it could wait, Mrs Scully and Dana had other ideas. Their wedding, just over two days away, would see all the boxes gone and their contents neatly placed in the appropriate place. Stacking the dishwasher, Mulder climbed the stairs with Scully. Washed and in day clothes, the family once again retire to the cosy lounge.

'I'll get it,' Scully moaned seconds after the doorbell chimed. Rolling onto her stomach, she pushed off the floor. For the last two hours they'd been playing with Sophia. At the moment, the little girl used Mulder as her pony, riding him around the rug "racetrack". 'I called the Baby Story yesterday and asked them to deliver the remainder of our purchases as early as they could this morning. They're also going to fit the twin's capsules to your car.'

'Great minds think alike,' Mulder mused, 'I called them and asked for another set of seats for your car after our discussion yesterday.'

Ten minutes later, Mulder's head in Scully's vehicle, he'd managed to secure the second child restraint into the middle position. 'Noting to it,' he grinned at his partner holding Sophia. Picking up the last seat, he prepared to install that too.

'I can't believe you'll payed me to set up three restraints and two capsules,' the delivery guy eyed Scully appreciatorily. Knocking his upper arm into Mulder's, he stage whispered, 'the little women are always like that. They don't trust us with the safety of their children, even if they're ours too. Say,' he couldn't help himself asking, 'how many kids to you two have anyway?'

'We're about to pick the twins up from the hospital,' Scully announced, remaining as enigmatic as usual.

'Oh,' scratching his head, the deliveryman placed a hand on Mulder stoping him form inserting the restraint, 'and these,' he pointed to the seat about to inhabit the back of Scully Taurus, 'are for the newborns?'

'Yes,' Scully humoured him. She'd been waiting for this moment while the boys flexed their muscle.

'Right, so only three kids, as in like a set for each car, not six?' he asked once again, beginning to look slightly embarrassed.

'That's right,' Scully agreed watching Mulder's expression of bewilderment.

'Oh, man,' the delivery guy complained, 'we need to take these out and turn them around.'

'Why?' confused, Mulder knew Scully had him.

'Neonates need to face backwards for at least the first six months, Mulder,' Scully managed to keep a neutral expression on her face. 'They say practice makes perfect. Sophia and I are going up to the master bedroom to set up Caleb's basinet before he comes home. Then we'll pack the dipper bag. Do you men think you might be done in time for us to go to the hospital?'

'Funny, Scully,' Mulder mocked.

'Oh, and Mulder,' Scully threw over her shoulder as she re-entered the warm house, 'we only need two restraints in each car for the moment. It's really hard to strap an uncooperative toddler into the middle seat. Especially if it's over the top of a screaming baby.'

Both men stared at Scully retreating figure before getting back to work.


	17. Chapter 17

'Coming in through the front door, Agents?' Paul, the security guard asked with a humorous chuckle.

He remembered Scully from a few years back. Much to her consternation, she'd set off the metal detector. Like everyone else in the building, he'd heard about the strange pair of agents, who until recently, had been housed in the basement and what they reportedly got up too. He'd even entered the betting pool on the state of their partnership. The appearance of both together drew several pairs of eyes from other staff working the entry. What they carried between them seemed to answer all the questions about the state of their current relationship.

Quirking an eyebrow into its usual position, Scully didn't need to say a word. Placing an object on the floor, she commenced empting her pockets. Taking her gun out of its holster, she handed it over to be checked. Finally reaching for her engagement ring and twisting it off, Scully watched Paul's eyes widen in shock as she dropped it in the basket.

'Not everything is allowed through the staff entrance,' Scully smirked convincingly.

So far she'd managed to walk before Mulder, partially hiding the child strapped to his chest from Paul and the rest of the security staff. Sophia, somewhat frightened and somewhat fascinated by the lights and people surrounding her, gave off a noise resembling a strangled giggle. Reaching out to her mother, Sophia muttered something resembling "Ma ma ma " and grasped at Scully hair which she found enthralling. Drawing Paul's attention to the child, his mouth dropped.

'Whose baby is that?' the flabbergasted security agent stammered.

'Mine,' Scully continued, her enigmatic smile still covering her face, 'and Agent Mulder's.'

'Apparently family, especially those under one year of age, need their own visitors badge,' Mulder remarked with more than a little irony, looking down at his daughter he introduced the children, 'this is Sophia and Caleb.' Indicating the capsule Scully picked up and now carried in her right hand as she prepared to enter the metal detector.

'But….but….' Paul managed, lost for words. Making a gesture with his hand, he tried to demonstrate a swollen belly of late pregnancy.

'Surrogate,' Mulder stated easily, handing his weapon to the next guard. The female office only had eyes for the adorable little girl with hazel-green eyes.

'Ah, the baby carrier to,' Selena pointed to the metallic D rings forming part of the apparatus.

Shrugging good naturedly, Mulder easily removed his daughter, much to her consternation. Sophia loudly demonstrated her displeasure at being manhandled. The tone and timber of her voice distinctly telling her father off. Placing the child a few feet away from the gate, she crawled through to her mother without a backward glance. Pulling herself up on Scully's trousers, Sophia requested the safety of her parents' embrace in this scary new place.

'I told you we should have brought the pram,' Mulder berated, making short work of the harness now he'd had several days practice with the device.

'You tried for twenty minutes this morning, Mulder,' Scully reminded him, looking particularly maternal, one child in her arms, the other in a carrier at her feet, to anyone caring to watch the public display, 'to attach Caleb's capsule. We're late for our appointment with Kersh.' Her eye's said _stop complaining and get a move on, I just want to get this over and done._

Sighing, Mulder walked through the gate, gathered both his and Scully's possessions. After replacing his watch and gun, he took Sophia, who squirmed in his arms and made unhappy noises while reaching for her mother. She hadn't forgiven him yet. Finished restoring her positions, Scully scooped her daughter out of Mulder's arms and deposited her back into her harness.

'Your turn to take Caleb for a while,' she turned toward the main elevators, leaving Mulder to pick up their bundle, place his hand in the middle of her back and escort her up to the executive level. 'He might only weigh six pounds, but after carrying him for a while, he feels like a lead weight.'

'Just wait until William's home too,' Mulder couldn't keep the glee from his voice, informing Paul and the other security staff they had twin boys. He knew the office grape vine would hear about this before they'd concluded the meeting with Kersh. 'Then you'll have two of them to carry, Scully, plus our daughter.'

'I hope you've managed to tame the triplet pram by then, Mulder,' Scully returned, more than aware of his methods, 'otherwise you're going to become the stay at home parent.'

They rode in silence to the sixth floor. After siting for ten minutes in Amber-Lynne's office trying to keep Sophia quietly amused, the child decided she had enough and let out a high pitched scream. Reaching down, Scully struggled to diffuse her daughter's frustration at the toy in her hand not doing what she wanted. However the concentration span for an almost one year old had well and truly expired. Too late, Scully realised Sophia had lost interest, crawling away to entangle herself in the cords under Amber-Lynne's desk.

Caleb, awoken by his sister's loud, shrill cry, decided he needed both changing and a food in his empty belly. Starting as a slow whimper, his complaining soon turned into a full scale howl, letting the adults know they'd missed his early warning signs stating he needed attention. A glance later, a silent conversation and a Kersh's secretary compressing her lips, Mulder took off after Sophia, while Scully pulled supplies out of the dipper bag. Laying a change mat on the floor, she began to make her son more comfortable.

'You can't do that here,' Amber-Lynne stated, horrified and offended.

'Where would you like me to change my son,' Scully returned in the same tone, not stopping in her ministrations. 'As far as I'm aware, the FBI doesn't accommodate children or dirty dippers. So if you want to stop his distress, I need to make him comfortable. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like some boiling water fix his milk.'

Huffing, the woman left allowing Mulder to rescue his daughter. Not wanting to leave her new "toys", it took some persuasion to convince Sophia to come out. When she finally did, Mulder scooped her up mutter something about being easer to catch liver eating monsters than a little girl. Holding the complaining bundle of energy tightly in his embrace, she increased the volume of her protest. _This child is so much like me in the energy and intensity department_, Mulder mused, glancing over to Scully, still securing Caleb's dipper. _No support there_, he realised, attempting to hush Sophia, hoping the boys tended towards their mother's quieter personality.

'What the hell is going on out here,' Kersh demanded, opening his office door with a flustered look on his face.

'Just the usual feeding time at the zoo,' Mulder dead paned, watching Scully secure the final buttons on Caleb's romper. 'Sorry, we had to bring the kids,' he explained, slightly embarrassed as he realised they had an audience on the other side of glass panels leading into the main corridor to the elevator. The word that Mr and Mrs Spooky turned up to work toting two children and an engagement ring had obviously made the rounds in record time. 'Sophia won't let either of us out of her sight and Caleb still needs three hour feeds.'

Leaving the red faced infant demanding his afternoon snack on his mat, Scully rummaged around in the dipper bag. Coming up with a tiny baby bottle half filled with aseptic water, she poured a measure of powdered milk into it. Leaving a half ounce for the boiling water, Scully looked up at her boss while packing up the scattered supplies.

'We're here to officially apply for leave,' she stated, a determined look covering her features.

'Indeed,' Kersh had to work hard to hide his mirth. The sight of Mulder with a child in his arms looked odd. He couldn't blame the agents staring at the sight. 'I though you said three children,' Kersh stated, loud enough for the bystanders to get the full story through the open door.

'William is still in the hospital recovering from his ordeal,' Scully kept her professional facade in place, just. Indicating they should precede him into the office, Scully looked about for Amber-Lynne, finally realising the level of attention they'd attracted. She hated being the object of so much scrutiny. 'I need to feed Caleb,' she sounded anxious, her eye's meeting Mulder's.

'Agent Scully,' Kersh softened, showing the first signs of humanity she'd ever seen, 'I have three grandchildren,' he explained indulgently, his gaze arrowing to the gathered crowd. 'Come through to my office and make yourself comfortable. I'll have my assistant get you whatever you need to settle your children.'

'Thank you sir,' Mulder answered, helping Scully from the floor as Amber-Lynne returned.

The woman gave Scully an evil look and a malevolent smile. Nodding almost imperceptibly to her boss before sitting behind her desk, the gleam left Scully in no doubt who'd arranged the audience. She left the Styrofoam cup where Scully could collect it, watching the pair enter Kersh's office.

Finally seated, Scully allowed Sophia to play on the sofa between them. A brightly coloured toy claiming her attention for the moment, she'd given the job of feeding the baby to Mulder. It seemed to abate his nervous energy.

'I'll come straight to the point,' Kersh removed his glasses, wiped them on a clean cloth from his suit pocket and then replaced them. 'As you're well aware, I inherited you several months back as punitive action. Neither of you have completed the set probationary period. I'm well aware you're still attempting to restore documents belonging to the X-file, Agent Mulder,' Kersh feigned displeasure, 'and have investigated several without sanction.'

Watching the body language between his agents, he sighed, wondering how they'd take his next words. 'An attorney from the federal court contacted this office on Monday afternoon. After your request for emergency leave and the supporting evidence faxed from Judge Macomb's chambers, I've consulted with the other Assistant Directors. We believe you should be granted personal leave until the family court hearing. Whatever the outcome of that judgement, you'll both be reporting to Quantico for your new assignments. Your field agent status has been revoked in light of recent events in Florida.'

Mulder tuned out the rest of the ten minute lecture. Having an inside lead on the changes in their professional status, he didn't need to hear Kersh rehashing the calculated moves to have him discredited and removed from his previous life work. Mulder's attention focused on the infant who'd completed half his feed. Taking Caleb's tiny chin into the Y between his thumb and index finger, Mulder began to rub his back. Rewarded with several large burps and a small amount of regurgitated milk, Scully handed him a wipe while still listening intently to Kersh's words. Thanking her with a look, Mulder changed his son's position. Cradling Caleb, the child greedily took the teat into his mouth and began sucking.

'Actually,' Scully moved Sophia onto her lap. She became restless with the constant monotone. 'The date for the Family Court had been set. Judge Anthea Eikosidekas will hear the case in April.'

'Well,' Kersh stood, letting the agents know they'd been dismissed, 'personnel is waiting for you to file the appropriate paperwork. Good luck with your new assignments.'

_He can't wait to get rid of us, Scully_, Mulder's gaze explained, _we've been a pain in his backside, now he's free to follow his own agenda. _Head held high in acknowledgement, Scully secured Sophia into her carrier. Mulder, still nursing their son, threw the dipper bag over his shoulder. 'Ready,' he asked.

'As I'll ever be,' Scully returned, picking up their son's capsule. She missed Mulder's comforting hand at the base of her spine. Yet the picture of him, one arm supporting Caleb, the other holding the child's bottle, almost brought tears of joy.

'You need to collect anything from the bullpen before we leave the Hoover building for the last time,' he smirked. One look at Scully and he could read her like an open book.

'Even if I did,' she returned, that enigmatic smile plastered on her face for public display, 'how would we carry it.' Scully's eyes glanced to the children and assorted paraphernalia between them.

'Come on, Scully,' Mulder teased, 'you think between us, we'd have to move more than we could fit into the dipper bag.'

Sighing heavily, Scully considered the months they'd been assigned to general duties. Apart from the odd case Mulder researched, they'd been given nothing but rookie assignments. Neither had invested themselves in the work or their workplace. While she could name the other agents who held desks in the same area, Scully didn't know anything about them.

'You're right, Mulder, I've seen your desk for the past seven years,' walking beside him, Scully allowed her eyebrow to rise as they approached open doorway. Thomas Perrot and Amanda Ng sat at their desks, gazes following the pair. 'How you find anything on it still amazes me, besides, I'm well aware of why you want to go in there.'

'Why would that be Agent Scully,' Mulder mocked, unable to keep the ecstatic grin off his face.

Moving towards his desk, Mulder fell into the seat looking around at the startled rookie agents. Caleb gave a squawk at the sudden moment which had taken his teat, and the empty bottle, from his mouth. 'All done, buddy,' he father cooed, moving into a better position to bring up the last of his wind.

Scully eyed her desk. Since the fire in the basement, she'd restrained from keeping anything personal at the office. Opening the draw, Scully fished around before realising nothing belonged to her. 'I'm done, Mulder,' Scully stated. Until this moment, she hadn't appreciated how much she resented this forced assignment.

'Maybe you could change your son's dirty dipper while I clear out my desk,' Mulder suggested, gesturing for Scully to exchanged children.

If looks could kill, he'd be six feet under by now. Ignoring his fiancée, Mulder sat Sophia on his knee, pulled out a draw and discovered he had nothing to take away. Buying himself time, Mulder tempted his daughter with a bright yellow pencil. Finally the person he'd be awaiting entered.

'What the hell is this,' Dianna Fowley's furious bellow broke the silence, causing Sophia's expressive face to screw up in distress.

Mulder managed to soother her before turning to his adversary. 'What does it look like,' Mulder stated easily, a broad teasing grin on his face. The commotion attracted the attention of several agents in the adjacent offices, as well as Scully, who'd finished changing Caleb in the ladies room down the corridor.

'I though nothing mattered but the work,' Diana effected disappointment. Approaching his desk, she attempted to initiate their previous relationship by reaching out a hand. Mulder pulled away from the contact. 'I'm keeping the X-files alive,' her voice turning intimately quiet, 'someone has too.'

'Situations change, Diana,' Mulder looked into her brown orbs, wondering what he ever saw in them. Remembering the jealousy Diana caused between himself and Scully, realising his fiancée needed proof, tangible evidence, he'd arranged this demonstration to determine the validity of his feeling. Mulder had set this up to give Scully the emotional security she needed. She'd never doubt his love and affection once the scene played out.

'People change, Diana. I told you the day you finished testing Gibson Praise, the day you tried to re-establish what we once had, I've done OK without you,' hazel eyes said so much more to the woman standing in the background watching the scene unfold. Mulder spoke, not to Diana but Dana behind her. He'd been aware Scully had witnessed Diana holding his hand and reacted to it in such a telling way just before they'd lost the X-file to an arsonist.

'Scully keeps me honest and I have to work for everything,' he stated the conviction pouring form his hazel eyes directly into blue. 'Gibson knew I had thoughts for only one woman in that room, Diana.'

'Fox,' she mumbled.

He'd reeled her in. Made her believe there could be a chance. Leaving it to Scully, she completed Diana's downfall.

'Mulder,' Scully's eyes said he didn't need to do this. Coming closer to her partner, she reached out her left hand instinctively. Placing it on his forearm in support, the diamond on her finger caught the overhead light.

'Yes,' Mulder's look said more than the simple words, 'I did.'

'Let's go, Mulder,' Scully stated, saddened by Diana's reaction. 'We need to get back to William.'

'Who's William?' Diana asked in a strangled voice, placing the puzzle pieced in the correct order.

'My other son and Caleb's twin,' Mulder answered pointing to the infant in the capsule that Scully carried in her right hand.

Scully faced her nemesis, curious about something, 'who called you, Agent Fowley?'

'I saw Kersh's sectary dial our old basement extension,' Mulder chimed in, 'as we entered his office.'

_Finally_, Scully thought_, he gets it. She'd been working against us all this time and he finally sees it. This confrontation isn't for me, it's about her but even Mulder's only just realised that. All this time, Diana's been controlled by forces she may not even realise. Or maybe she is aware and has been manipulated as we were all those years on the X-files._

'Mulder,' Scully tightened her hold on his arm, reminding him of their tight schedule, 'we have so much to do, and,' pausing to allow a build up before she delivered her final barb, 'our wedding is tomorrow.'

'You're getting married, Fox,' Diana almost choked on the words.

'Why don't you ask your boss, Diana,' Mulder stated in disgust as he realised the smell of stale smoke surrounded her, 'I'm sure he'll fill you in on the family situation of Mr and Mrs Spooky.'


	18. Chapter 18

'I'm not sure, Mom,' Scully called from the kitchen. Surrounded by trays of finger food the caterer delivered fifteen minutes ago, she finally felt happy with all the preparation. Turning to face her mother, Dana considered the question carefully before answering, 'maybe in the upstairs bathroom? At least that's where I asked Mulder to put the box. There have been so many people trying the help us unpack in the last two days, I'm really not sure where anything is.'

'Dana, for the last time, will you go upstairs and get ready,' Ellen demanded. She'd been sent to locate the cable ties to attach the flowers to the banister rail for the upcoming wedding. Sighing as her long-time friend once again perused the kitchen, Ellen handed Mrs Scully the required item. Appealing to Scully's good sense, she stated, 'your mom and I can make sure everything's ready down here.'

'Go, Dana,' Maggie agreed, looking as harried as she sounded. Standing with one foot on the bottom step, a bouquet of baby's breath in her hand and a blue ribbon in the other, she attempted to secure the flowers. 'Fox will be here with William any minute. I still don't know how Harold and your soon to be husband managed to get that child released from the hospital. We both know he's not ready to be discharged until after the weekend.'

'A very large donation to the new adolescent ward,' Scully scowled, not impressed with the sudden change in plans. William's unplanned arrival, a typically thoughtless yet poignant Mulder surprise an hour before their wedding had thrown the Scully women's last minute plans in to chaos. He'd considered it a bridal gift, ensuring the whole family could be together for their special day, one he saw as the official start of his family.

Charlie, Bill and their dependants had taken over the two guest suits on the second level and were now getting dressed. It left Maggie, Ellen and Dana to finish most of the last minute preparations. Chloe, attempting to ready her three children with Charlie promised to help. Three year old Jamie had dented those plans by attempting to change is sixteen month old sister's nappy and getting himself covered in the contents while his parents coheres his older sister into her flower-girls gown.

The guests would start arriving at about the same time the groom completed the return journey from the hospital. Maggie had insisted neither bride nor groom should see each other before the ceremony and had charged her two sons and Harold with keeping Dana and Mulder apart. Getting Mulder into his suit if Scully didn't hurry would prove impossible. The thought brought a frown to Maggie's features.

'Just like a man,' Ellen couldn't help the smile in the attempt to break the descending mood, 'come on Dana, you have to admit it's truly romantic. The man of your dreams making a last minute dash to the hospital to ensure your entire family witnesses your marriage.'

'I guess,' Scully didn't sound so sure, 'and hiring one of the most reputable neo-natal nurses for the day belayed Dr Matheson's fears,' Scully continued as she wiped her hands on the dish cloth beside the stove. Glancing around the kitchen, everything seemed to be under control for the moment. 'Beside, he's only here for three hours before we have to take him back. I just hope this sojourn doesn't affect William's discharged on Monday'

'I know you wanted all you children in the wedding pictures, Dana,' Maggie still didn't look impressed. Cursing under her breath, she couldn't make the arrangement in her hands do what she wanted.

'Mom,' Tara took the last of the decorations from her mother-in-laws hands. She'd silently descended the stairs, waiting for the opportunity to help out. Twisting the bouquet easily into an arrangement, she secured it to the banister with ease. 'Let me finish this up. Chloe will be down in a minute and she can help me with the rest of the flowers in the living room while you help Dana get ready for her big day. If the pair of you don't get a move on, Father McCue will be here and the ceremony will start without the bride.'

'Or the groom,' Scully retaliated, understanding Mulder's appalling timekeeping. He'd barely have time to get to Georgetown and back again by four, considering the Friday afternoon traffic attempting to escape D.C.

'I don't think you'll have to worry about your fiancée arriving in time,' Ellen attempted to stop the giggle escaping as she exchanged an amused glance with Tara. 'I can see it now, everyone seated and waiting, while the two of you discuss the semantics of the situation,' Ellen teased.

Failing to hide their mirth, both Tara and Ellen broke into a soft, amused laughter. They'd all witnessed the way the engaged couple melded seamlessly into a tight family unit. The addition of a two week old requiring three hourly overnight feeds didn't seem to strain the relationship. They'd kept up their silent communication, interrupted by the occasional bout of good natured bickering. The sentiment brought a smile to Maggie's face.

'At least,' the mother of the bride, first to curb her enjoyment, added, 'we don't have to worry about the groom seeing the bride before the ceremony. Fox may keep us all waiting, but he does show up eventually.'

'Tara,' Scully turned her attention towards her sister-in-law, now three months pregnant with their second child, 'where's Sophia,' she asked in a strained tone. The joke hit home as she remembered all those times Mulder had ditched her for an X-file. He'd needed rescuing. Not wanting to think about it, Scully realised her tactic to change the focus of the conversation had succeeded.

A delighted smile crossed the younger woman's face. From the moment Bill Scully Jr stepped into the house, Sophia abandoned her father in favour of Scully's older brother. The somewhat grumpy, arrogant man with a military bearing attempted to keep his distance from the little girl, just six weeks younger than his son, Matthew. Scowling hadn't worked neither had removing himself from her immediate presence. Sophia demonstrated a determination to rival that of Mulder on the most trying of X-files. She's taken a liking to Uncle Bill and like a limpet, had attached herself firmly to his side ever since.

'Bill's just finished bathing her and Matthew in the same tub,' Tara laughed openly. The eleven and a half month old had managed to temporarily heal the breach between Mulder and her husband. 'It really was a sight to behold. The poor man didn't quite know what hit him. I just hope our daughter can wrap him around her little finger like yours has, Dana. I didn't think I'd ever see my strong, conceited Navy Captain capitulate so easily before. He's like putty in her little hands.'

'I'll admit,' Scully tried to keep the scowl from her face, 'it's dissipated the tension I expected in the house.'

'I haven't been looking forward to my husband and yours under the staying under the same roof for a few hours,' Tara readily agreed, 'let alone the entire weekend. After the way they behaved the Christmas before last, when Emily…'

Nodding, Scully fixed her face in a determined expression. Not wanting to break down in front of these people, even though they formed her most intimate family, she hurried up the stairs. She let her sorrow out in the privacy of her en-suite bathroom shower cubical.

'What did I say,' Tara looked at Maggie with sorrowful blue orbs, 'I didn't mean to upset anyone.'

'Emily,' Margaret answered slowly, 'should have been here with her brothers and sister today.'

'Emily's father…' Tara couldn't bring herself to complete the sentence. Her hand clapped over her mouth as the implication hit her. 'Oh Dear God, did he know at the time? And the way Bill acted towards Mulder, forcing him to stay at a motel. I knew Dana and her partner were close enough that she wanted him…'

The look passing across Maggie's expressive face answered all the questions Tara's mouth had become to parch to ask. 'They only found out the paternity of Emily with the documentation for these children,' Mrs Scully pursed her lips. 'Today is a celebration for Dana, Fox and their children becoming a real family, no matter how this came about.'

Determined to make this the most memorable day of her daughter's life, Maggie set her face into a happy expression. She'd need it for the calamity she found at the top of the stairs. Bill, standing in the entry to the master bedroom, had finally cornered his little sister after trying for the last twenty four hours to get her alone for a private discussion. At his right leg, a little mini-Mulder made happy sounds while clutching her uncles right pant leg.

'Dana, get this child to leave me alone,' he protested, attempting to remove the small body from his person, 'because I want to talk to you about going through with this farce of a wedding.'

Loosing every last shred of dignity after an almost sleepless night, Scully exited the bathroom clad only in the expensive lingerie purchased for the expressed purpose of exciting a groom on his wedding night. Caleb, use to almost instantaneous service from his trained nurse carers in the NICU, had demanded the same level of devotion from his mother overnight. Scully had become adept at waking at her sons' almost silent first cry for attention. That, combined with the stressors of the day before, most notably the show down with Diana Fowley and the thought of Bill and Mulder under the same roof even for a night, had left Scully fatigued beyond endurance.

Uncaring of her state of dress, she stood to her full high of five feet three inches. 'That child,' she spat both the words and fire from her eyes, 'has a name. My daughter, for some reason known only to herself, adores you William Scully. You are one of the few individuals she trusts in this world, take it as great compliment, considering half her genes are derived from Mulder.' Turning to the wedding gown hanging on the door to the bathroom, Dana slipped the dress over her head. 'I'm marrying the man I'm in love with today. I'm pledging myself to the father of my children. It's time you understood this is my life, Bill. Now help me by zipping up this outfit,' Scully demanded.

Shocked to the core, Bill obediently obliged his sister. Still gobsmacked at the skimpy lace and satin, he attempted to close his open mouth. Taking the tag in his hand, the sound of the metal teeth meshing together as he aided his sister into the gown his soon to be brother in law would take off her, he tried to form a sentence in his overwrought mind.

Brushing past him, Scully scored the final point in the very one sided argument, 'now you'll have to suffer the agony of knowing what Mulder will be getting tonight,' she managed in a tight voice before stepping into a pair of three inch pumps and slamming the bathroom door in his face.

Still too stunned to talk, Bill turned to find his mother standing stock still in the hall. 'You've been asking for that,' Maggie lightly rebuked her son. 'Now you have to live with the image of your sister as a fully grown woman able to make her own decisions in life. Please take Sophia down to the living room with the other children. Caleb should be awake any moment and I want him ready when Fox comes back with William so we can finally get these two married.'

Nodding mutely, Bill wondered if he'd ever be the same again. _Something in this world you're just not meant to see_, he berated_, like your baby sister all grown up and looking good enough to model for Victoria's Secrets. If that didn't bring home the message, I don't know what would have. I might hate the guy she's marrying, but I finally understand how much she loves him in spite of all the pain he's put her though. Or maybe it's because of it. _


End file.
